Speak to Me
by musicboxmedley
Summary: Cassie is a typical Hogwarts student. And that's driving him crazy. When he makes up his mind to get Cassie to talk to him, he may have gotten more than he bargined for. So the games are on. But who will win?
1. Of Bookworms and Blacks

**A/N: **Well, this story is completely different from my other, Deception, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Let me know if you see anything that I could correct! Enjoy.

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**Chapter 1 – Of Bookworms and Blacks

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At fifteen, Cassandra Beckett was never the most social of students in Hogwarts. Hiding behind her bottle-cap glasses and dark, lank hair, she read for entertainment instead of attending parties and Quidditch matches like other students. She immersed herself in books about the history of goblin wars and ancient wizarding battles, and once she had picked up a book, it became nearly impossible for anyone to wake her from her daydreams of the adventures of Godric Gryffindor and his three brave companions.

She was acting the same as ever on her journey to back to Hogwarts of the Hogwarts express. After spotting an empty compartment, she had placed her trunk above her hastily and opened her latest book, flipping to the current page quickly. It was better that she hide herself in the world of people who lived long before her than to exist in the world she lived in today, she reasoned. Slytherins found her the perfect target for practicing hexes, since nobody ever stood up for her. And then there was Sirius Black.

Sirius Black and his three friends were just short of being crowned the rulers of Hogwarts. Unstoppable pranksters, nearly every student in Hogwarts, except for the Slytherins, who hated them with a passion, worshipped the four students better known as the Marauders. No one quite knew the reason for the name, but they still used it as if it was a sacred word. Students marveled at the knowledge of Remus Lupin in class, laughed at Peter Pettigrew's antics, and marveled over James Potter's skills on the Quidditch pitch.

Sirius Black was handsome in a dark, mysterious way that seemed to turn girls on in an instant. Cassie hadn't heard of a girl in Hogwarts who wasn't completely crazy about Sirius Black. There were many things to find attractive about Sirius: he came from an ancient, wealthy wizarding family, he was smart, funny, and popular, but also, as Cassie knew quite well, mean. She and Severus Snape seemed to be his favorite targets of last year. Although with her it was not quite as pronounced, she still faced torment every time she crossed Sirius' path. He was always laughing at the pathetic little Ravenclaw bookworm, calling her names softly as she walked by or just mocking her with his three other friends.

A loud tap sounded on the glass of the compartment that Cassie was sitting in. She looked up to find the smirking face of Lucius Malfoy, a sixth-year Slytherin student, accompanied by several of his friends. She closed her eyes, hoping that she could somehow ignore them away, that they would disappear, just like her daydreams did when she closed a book. She could hear their laughter outside the compartment carry through the glass clearly.

"Little Ravenclaw, are you reading again?" Lucius taunted her, sliding the compartment door open. "You always have your nose in a book, don't you?" he said, glancing mockingly at the book in her hands. She didn't dare say a word, only hope that they would leave her soon. "Why don't you brush out your hair instead of always reading?" Lucius continued, trying to get a reaction out of her. "It's looking especially stringy these days, Beckett. Quite unattractive."

"Be quiet, Malfoy," said Cassie in a low voice at last, unable to stop herself. "Just leave me in peace."

Lucius and his friends roared with laughter. "Are you telling us to leave, little Ravenclaw?" he said, laughing in her face. "What are you going to do, throw a book at us?"

Cassie ignored him with determination, trying not to let the tears of frustration spill down her cheeks. She tried to focus on her book, but she kept reading the same line over and over, unable to concentrate. Why did Lucius always do this to her? She always minded her own business, but that did not seem to be good enough for the Slytherins.

Lucius laughed harshly once again, and with a flick of his wand, Cassie's book flew up and hit her in face, nearly crushing her glasses. "Always sitting with your nose in a book," he laughed, pocketing his wand with a sneer. "Now it's stuck there permanently. I'll see you around," he said with a gleam in his eye, his friends erupting in laughter at the sight of Cassie with her nose glued to a book as they walked off into the corridors, slamming the door shut behind them.

Cassie was left there, her nose literally glued to the middle of the book. Before she could reach for her wand to help herself get free from the embarrassing situation she was in, she heard footsteps and mutter beside her. Not daring to look up from her position, she listened closely and realized that she was hearing the voices of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Pettigrew. At first she was confused why she could not hear Remus' voice, but then realized as a Prefect, he was most likely up with the prefects in the prefects' carriage.

"Hello, Beckett," she heard Sirius say, and out of the corner of her vision she watched as he took a seat across from her along with his friends. "Good book?"

James snickered, and Peter followed his example, tittering loudly.

Cassie decided not to change her position, but pretend that she was reading the book and could not hear Sirius. When Cassie still did not look up from her position, Sirius crossed his arms and scowled. "Honestly, Beckett," he said, a smirk forming on his lips, "you really should look at people when they talk. No book is _that_ interesting."

Cassie still ignored him, and at last he stood up, glancing at James. "I don't think she's going to talk to us, do you think, James?"

"No, her book is much too interesting for her to actually talk to us," said James with a laugh. Cassie heard the compartment door slide open, and James and Pettigrew walk out with Sirius behind them. Tears of humiliation poured down Cassie's cheeks. As they left, she heard Sirius' last words before the door slid shut.

"She's just another bookworm."

**.x.X.x.**

Cassie sat through the entire sorting process in the Great Hall with a blank face and empty eyes. She was utterly humiliated, and classes had not even begun yet. The only social event she had to look forward to were the Potions Professor Slughorn's parties that she was always invited to because of her excellent skills in Transfiguration and Potions, and even those were horrible for her. Nobody ever spoke to her, but she still felt obliged to come, so she would bring along a book and sit in the corner, reading. Sometimes she would have conversations with the teachers, especially Professor Quinn, the Muggle Studies professor. He was one of the most kindhearted professors that Cassie knew, and during Slughorn's seemingly endless parties, they would have deep conversations about the peculiarities of Muggle inventions.

She usually paid special attention to Dumbledore's speeches after the feast, but she sat and stared at the ceiling as he talked, watching the stars twinkle brightly in the magical sky, her plate in front of her untouched. The only person who ever spoke to her, Catherine Creevy, a thin, wiry girl who was always taking pictures with her camera, no matter what the occasion, sat beside her, slurping down her pumpkin juice.

"Great feast tonight, eh, Cassie?" she asked, setting down her empty class of pumpkin juice and taking a picture of the roast beef with her brand-new camera. Several students jumped at the bright flash but Dumbledore seemed to pay no attention, continuing in his speech. "I can't wait to show my Mum and Dad how great this camera works!" exclaimed Catherine, looking around her and quieting her voice to a whisper. "Auntie Lu really gives wonderful birthday presents."

"Right," said Cassie, her chin resting on her hand, still staring at the sky. "That's great, Catherine." She was too tired to listen to anything that she was saying. She chewed on a piece of cake absentmindedly, watching Sirius and his friends from far away at the Gryffindor table. They also were not listening to the speech made by Dumbledore and instead were goofing off, shooting random hexes at Lucius, who in turn whipped around furiously, trying to discover the source of the hexes, only to find the marauders sitting innocently at the table, their eyes on Dumbledore and angelic looks on their faces.

After they students were dismissed, Cassie stood up from the table, walking off from the Great Hall and heading directly for the Ravenclaw Common Room, tuning out the excited chatting of the first years and laughter of older students. She just wanted to go to bed and forget the entire day, waking up to a fresh new day. At least she had classes to look forward to.

"Well, look who got her nose out of the book, finally," came the laughing voice of Sirius Black, directly behind her with his three other friends. Cassie couldn't help but notice that he looked handsomer than ever with his dark hair falling perfectly into his sparkling gray eyes and a dimple on his cheek as he grinned widely.

And here she was, her hair limper than ever, falling into her face in an ungraceful way completely different from Sirius, her glasses feeling heavier than ever on the bridge of her nose, and her slight form hunched over from shame. She walked on, willing the tears not to trickle down her cheeks once again.

Sirius' words rang out in her head.

"_She's just another bookworm." _

**.x.X.x.**

Sirius hated this. Cassandra Beckett had never spoken a word to him since the day they entered Hogwarts. He sat on his bed in the Gryffindor boys' 5th year dormitory, scowling as he watched James throw an orange up into the air and catch it, using the fruit as a substitute for a snitch. Why wouldn't she speak to him?

"What's got you in a right state?" said James, chucking the orange at Sirius' head to wake him from his thoughts. It hit him with a soft plunk, making him scowl and throw it back at James, who caught it one-handedly with a cocky grin.

"Nothing," lied Sirius, shaking his hair from his eyes.

"Is nothing the reason you've sat there for ten minutes now staring at Peter's knickers?" said James with a smirk, his hazel eyes sparkling. "I mean, the pig pattern is rather nice but-"

James was interrupted by Sirius leaping up and knocking him on the side of the head. "Sod off," Sirius said irritably, plopping back down on the bed, but a few seconds later he looked up and gave a grin to James.

James merely raised his eyebrows laughingly, beginning to toss the orange once again. Peter squealed, nearly falling off his bed in excitement as James caught it without looking.

"It's Cassandra Beckett, isn't it?" came Remus' cool voice from the side of the room. He was sitting on the corner of his bed, a schoolbook for Transfiguration spread open in his lap, his light blue eyes narrowing intuitively.

"Who?" Sirius said, trying to look as if he had no clue what Remus was talking about.

"You know who," said Remus, flipping through a page idly, "the Ravenclaw girl you so love to taunt."

"Oh, her," said Sirius, as if he just realized who Remus was speaking about. "Yeah, I suppose I do sometimes," he said innocently, avoiding Remus' eye purposely.

"You don't like the fact that she's never spoken to you, don't you?" said Remus, looking up from his book at Sirius.

Sirius frowned. "Doesn't bother me," he said, trying to fake nonchalance. "Just because she's too damn stuck up to speak to me doesn't mean I care. Because I don't. " he added unconvincingly.

Remus nodded solemnly, but the corners of his lips were twitching as if they were itching to break into a smile.

Sirius scowled. Cassandra Beckett _was_ going to speak to him. He was going to make sure of it.

**.x.X.x.**

Cassie made her way to the Ravenclaw Common Room with a shamed face, adjusting her glasses self-consciously. The remark Lucius had made about her hair had still left its sting with her. She did her best to keep herself looking decent. Still, she seemed to be the joke of even the Ravenclaw girls. She muttered the password to the Ravenclaw Common Room downheartedly, her eyes on the floor. Nobody spoke to her as she walked through the dimly-lit room toward the girls' dormitories. She couldn't wait to get to bed and forget the day that she had just experienced.

Only two girls were in the dorm as entered. Emily Evans, unpacking her things near a bed across the room was chatting with Scarlet Edwards, a vivacious blonde who never seemed to want to speak to Cassie at all, acting like she might catch some kind of strange disease she carried.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed to Emily, brushing out her long, golden hair and completely ignoring Cassie, "did you see Sirius Black today? He looked amazing, as always, but this time he grew out his hair. It looks fabulous! When it falls in his eyes, it's so mysterious and attractive!"

Emily turned to watch as Cassie entered the room. "Hey Cassie," she greeted her, her blue eyes sparkling as she unfolded a pair of pajamas. "Scarlet was just telling me about how great Sirius Black looked today. Did you happen to see him?"

Cassie shook her head wordlessly, but knew she would deter Emily from getting her to reply. Emily was like that; she was persistently friendly with everyone she met, including the Slytherins, which earned her a few hexes every now and then. She had constantly tried to befriend Cassie, but Cassie was also so introverted and quiet that it made it quite difficult. Still, she never gave up.

"Ah, well, I was hoping you might have caught Remus too," said Emily excitedly. "Just…because…" she trailed off, getting a starry-eyed look.

Scarlet snorted. "What you see in him is beyond me, Emily," she said contemptuously, slipping into her night clothes quickly. "He's all…scarred up. And pale."

"But that's such a turn on," Emily said, falling back onto her bed and bouncing up and down. "It shows he's a real man. And his skin makes his fabulous blue eyes stand out. All Sirius can do and walk around and make girls swoon. Besides, we all know you secretly fancy Pettigrew. You just use your obsession of Sirius as a cover."

Scarlet frowned. She had never possessed the greatest sense of humor, and she was not displaying today either. "That's disgusting," she said, referring to Peter as she slipped into bed. "I would never fancy him."

Cassie sighed sadly at how the girls thought the Marauders were the most amazing people to ever enter Hogwarts, or even the world. She slipped on her own bedclothes, getting into bed and curling up. She didn't realize that she lay there, Sirius Black was sitting up in bed, determined to make her speak to him.

_He doesn't even care, _was her last thought before drifting off the sleep, not waking until the soft morning light crept into the dorms through the windows.


	2. Of Potions and Pranks

**A/N: **Thanks to you who favorited and reviewed the story. I hope you like this chapter as well. :)**

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**.::Chapter 2 – Of Potions and Pranks::.**

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Cassie woke up earlier than any of the other girls in the dormitory, heading down the Common Room to get some reading done before breakfast and classes. She reread the first chapter in her fifth-year Potions book unnecessarily, already having practically memorized the book cover for cover. She also flipped through her Transfiguration book, but slammed it shut, being reminded of how Malfoy glued her nose to the exact same book the other day. Finally, sleep-eyed Ravenclaw students began to drift down, their robes on and books in their hands.

Cassie retreated from the comfortable chair she was sitting in to the Great Hall for breakfast, where several students were already gathered. Taking a seat at the end of the Ravenclaw table, she grabbed a plate and scooped some eggs on her plate and placed a piece of toast there as well. She picked up her fork, prepared to eat her usual breakfast alone in peace when her plate flew away from the table and above her head, where in hung, suspended in midair. Cassie glanced around in shock, looking for the person who had bothered her breakfast.

Sirius Black stood by the Ravenclaw table, his wand held aloft a wide grin on his face. "Hello, Beckett," he greeted her as she stood up, his wand still aimed at her plate. James stood behind him, chucking, as well as Peter, who was bouncing up and down in excitement. The only person who wasn't smiling was Remus, who was frowning slightly, standing far behind the others, watching the scene in front of him.

Cassie stared at her plate in horror, humiliated that half the Great Hall was staring at the scene going on at the Ravenclaw table. Her cheeks grew red behind her limp hair and large glasses, her hands shaking, wishing that this would end. She stood silently, waiting for Sirius to grow bored and put her plate down.

Sirius lowered his wand and Cassie's plate dropped a few inches. She gasped involuntarily, letting a sigh of relief as Sirius lifted his wand and stopped it, laughing loudly.

"Come on, Beckett," said Sirius. "Just say please and you can have your plate back."

Cassie felt as if her tongue had been glued to the roof of her mouth. She couldn't even move, just watch the scene that was playing out before her. She never spoke to anyone if she could avoid it, especially Sirius Black. She hoped he could read her eyes, telling him to leave alone, and put her plate back down.

Sirius scowled, looking extremely annoyed with Cassie. "Fine," he said irritably, pocketing his wand. "Have it your way."

Cassie's watched as if in slow motion as her plate dropped swiftly to the ground. She stood there stupidly, in utter humiliation and disgrace, feeling too heavy and stupid to even think of drawing her wand and stopping the plate's decent.

Suddenly the plate froze, inches from the ground. It hovered there for a few seconds. Cassie looked up, expecting to find that Sirius was toying with her again, only to find that he had a look of surprise on his face identical to hers. She looked beyond him to find that Remus had drawn closer, his wand held out this time, pointed as the plate.

Sirius turned around, looking confused and annoyed. "What the hell, Remus?" he said in an undertone, eyeing him strangely.

Remus flicked his wand, wordlessly returning the plate to the table in front of Cassie. Cassie gave Remus a small but thankful smile, slipping back into her seat, happy to not be the center of attention anymore. She was embarrassed, unaware that the entire Great Hall was still staring at her.

Although she was merely too afraid to speak to Sirius, he and the rest of Hogwarts took it as a challenge from her. She was the only person in the history of the Marauders' reign at Hogwarts who had challenged Sirius and won the game.

**.x.X.x. **

Sirius stormed back to the Gryffindor table, brushing into Remus as he went. James followed, looking confused, and Peter trotted along behind them. Remus pocketed his wand, still frowning slightly.

"What was that?" snapped Sirius, now extremely angry that Cassie had humiliated him in front of the entire school. "It was just a plate. She could get another one."

Remus' light-blue eyes lacked their usual clever sparkle as he sat down at the Gryffindor table. "Sirius, even though I'm a prefect, I let you do what you want to Snape and the other Slytherins. I am not, however, going to let you harass Cassandra merely because she won't speak to you. She is shy and this goes beyond just having a little fun. It becomes cruelty."

Sirius huffed as he sat down with James and Peter. "Nobody asked you to be my Mum," he said, stabbing into a pile of pancakes and slapping several onto his plate. "Beckett is a stuck up prat who thinks she's too good to speak to us, and she needed to be taught a lesson," he said, trying to convince himself that what he did was right.

Just as Remus was about to interject, James glanced over at the entrance to the Great Hall, his eyes widening with mirth. "Don't look now, mate," whispered James to Sirius, "but here comes Scarlet Edwards."

Sirius whipped around, watching in something akin to terror as Scarlet entered the Great Hall, her long silvery-blonde hair pulled back in a high ponytail and a confident smile on her face as her eyes swept the hall for Sirius.

"Oh Merlin, hide me," hissed Sirius, diving beneath the table as Scarlet spotted him, letting out a squeal and running toward him. While almost every guy in Hogwarts agreed that Scarlet was quite attractive, she had also had obsessively stalked Sirius since their second year. Once she had even hired Catherine Creevy to follow Sirius around the school like the wizard paparazzi, taking pictures of his every action. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get her to leave him alone.

"Sirius?" came Scarlet's high voice, glancing under the table as Sirius. "What are you doing under there?"

Sirius hid his annoyance and flashed Scarlet a winning smile. "Nothing," he said, clambering back up to his seat, "Just looking for something I dropped. But I found it now." He turned his back to her, wishing her away.

James was looking as if was trying quite hard not to laugh, while Peter was staring at Scarlet dreamily. Even Remus' eyes were sparkling once again, the corners of his mouth twitching ever-so slightly.

"Oh, good," said Scarlet, fluttering her eyelashes dramatically at Sirius. "I just noticed how you grew out your hair this summer. It looks good. Really good," she said, reaching out running her hands through it, ruffling it up.

"Okay, I think you've felt my hair enough," said Sirius uncomfortably, standing up and trying to pull away.

By this point, tears of silent laughter were pouring down James' cheeks, and he was clutching his stomach, shaking silently. Even Remus was smirking slightly, and Peter looked quite jealous of Sirius.

Scarlet reached down and ran her hands over Sirius' chest and arms. "So strong," she said breathlessly. "Do you work out?" Her hands traveled lower down his body.

Sirius leapt back in horror, batting Scarlet's hands away. "What do you think you're doing, woman?" he yelped.

Scarlet frowned, her lower lip jutting in a pout. "Just admiring your body!" she said, looking slightly offended. "Do you want me to stop?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Sirius. "Now get away from me. Now."

Scarlet walked away, looking quite hurt as James fell the floor, clutching his stomach in noisy laughter, and Remus chuckled softly.

"Talk to you later, Scarlet?" Peter called after the girl hopefully. She ignored him.

Sirius looked as if he was ready to vomit. "Merlin," he said, sitting back down red-faced, "I feel so violated."

James looked at Sirius from the floor. "I think she fancies you, or at least your-"

"Shut up now, or I swear I will hex you so badly you they'll have to scrape your remains off the Great Hall walls," said Sirius, scowling darkly and stuffing his mouth full of pancakes. Remus raised his eyebrows and took a bite of toast.

James leapt up from the floor, patting Peter on the back as he sat back down.

"Better luck next time," he the despondent boy, grinning.

**x.X.x**

Cassie was confused, wondering why every student at Hogwarts seemed to be shooting her an almost reverent look. All she knew was that she hated the staring, so she tried to hide her eyes behind her glasses and thin hair as she made her way to her first class of the day, Potions. Although Slughorn would fawn over her for her decent Potion-making skills, which she hated, she knew that there was an upside to class – no Malfoy. The thought made her smile slightly, holding her books a little tighter as she entered the Potions classroom, taking a seat in the back of the class. There were various tables with four seats spread out across the room, and Cassie chose an empty one.

Emily, beaming brightly, plopped into a seat next to Cassandra, brushing her short blonde hair from her eyes as she did so. "Hey Cassie!" she greeted her, pulling out her quills. "Was there some sort of essay due today?"

Cassie nodded, pulling out her own ten-inch parchment on the Draught of Living Death and taking a second look at it, scanning it for errors. "Ten-inches on the Draught of Living Death," she said simply. She was not trying to be short or rude, she just disliked talking, which is why she kept what she said to a bare minimum.

"Damn," said Emily under her breath. "I completely forgot! Slughorn is going to kill me…that is, if he even notices between his compliments to Lily Evans." She hastily whipped out a piece of parchment, scribbling frantically with her quill as students slowly filed into the room. "The Draught of Living Death is very…deadly," Emily said under her breath as she wrote. "If you drink it, you will…suffer a living Death…um…"

Cassie sighed lightly. Potions was not Emily's strong point. Actually, school in general was not Emily's strong point, but she usually tried her hardest, despite her forgetfulness. That was probably the reason she had been placed in Ravenclaw – for her quick mind, despite the fact that she rarely used it.

"Hey, Beckett," came a friendly, low voice from in front of Cassie. She looked up to find the smiling face of Sirius Black, his hair falling into his eyes with a kind of casual grace. "Looking…good," he said with an extra-large grin, placing his hands on either side of the table in front of her.

Cassie just stared, worried that this was another one of his tricks. After breakfast, she had grown even more afraid of Sirius, watching her back every second. She had no idea what he was talking about, but had no desire to know.

Remus and James entered the room with Peter at their heels, heading straight for where Cassie and Emily sat. Emily sat up slightly straighter, her eyes pinned on Remus.

"Come off it, Sirius," said James, nudging Sirius. "She's not going to talk to you. You nearly chucked her breakfast across the Great Hall this morning. I wouldn't talk to you either." James rolled his eyes, plopping down at the table beside Emily and Cassie's. Remus followed, placing his books on the table before sitting down, sighing slightly. He had been looking quite peaky lately, Cassie couldn't help but notice. Undoubtedly that only increased his attraction for Emily, who was looking thrilled that his seat was only inches from her own.

Before Sirius could say another word, two girls entered the room that made both Peter and James look up and stare. Lily Evans, her dark red hair pulled back in low ponytail entered the room, books in hand. James' hand drifted to the top of his head, ruffling up his already messy hair.

The other girl was Scarlet Edwards, who smiled winningly at Sirius, who glanced at James in horror. Peter was staring after her, practically drooling, Cassie couldn't help but think. He stood up like a robot, heading over to her as she approached.

"Hey, Evans," James called out to Lily, who glanced over at him with distaste, "come and sit with us?"

"No, you prat, there won't be any room for me!" hissed Sirius, but James ignored him.

"No, thanks," said Lily coolly, taking a seat with several Gryffindor fifth-year girls. James' face fell, taking a seat sullenly across from Remus.

Sirius snorted once, but did not say anything else.

"Hey Scarlet," said Peter in what he obviously thought was a low, masculine voice, but came out more cracked and gravelly than not.

James smirked, and Sirius gave an odd bark that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

Scarlet glanced over his short, pudgy frame with obvious disgust, wrinkling her nose. "Pettigrew," she greeted him hastily, trying to squeeze past his chubby belly and reach the table with Emily.

"You're hair looks really nice today," he said, grinning to reveal his set of mouse-like, crooked teeth. "All long and yellowish. Really good."

"Er, thanks," said Scarlet, looking like she would very much like to vomit. "Look, I've need to sit down now so…could I get by?"

Peter took a step back quickly, nearly tripping over his own feet and hitting the shelf behind him. Several potion bottles rattled threateningly, but did not fall. Scarlet darted past him, taking a seat next to Cassie with a horrified expression on her face.

"I think he fancies you, Scarlet," said Emily. "Oh, don't look so disgusted!" she said, noticing the revolted look on Scarlet's face. "He has his good qualities. I think…" she trailed off, trying not to smirk. "You might be wonderful together!"

"Please tell me you're not serious," said Scarlet, flipping open her Potions book. "I think I might be sick."

Cassie just watched, amused. This is how she liked to live her life. Listening to others and not having to feel the pressure of needing to speak like Sirius Black gave her day after day.

**.x.X.x.**

"Smooth, Wormtail," snickered James as a despondent Peter plopped down at the table, flipping through his Potions book with a frown. "You really have a way with the ladies."

"You didn't do so well with Lily either," Peter shot back sulkily.

James looked quite angry for a moment, but after a while his scowl turned to a discouraged frown. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," he said. "She barely looked at me."

"And after you ruffled your hair and everything," said Sirius with a bark of a laugh.

James chucked a quill from across the table at Sirius, grinning reluctantly.

"Honestly, Padfoot, do you really have that much room to talk?" said Remus in his quite voice, setting up his scales. "You're not having much luck trying to get Cassandra to talk to you."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Come on, Moony, just give it a while. Who couldn't give in to the irresistible charm of Sirius Black, eh?"

James opened his mouth to make what was obviously going to be a witty reply, but before he could do so, Professor Slughorn entered the room, his great belly preceding him. The students quieted, some of them taking out their Potions books and essays.

"Quiet down, and textbooks and scales out please," said Slughorn, making his way to his desk.

Sirius watched as James cast a furtive glance Lily's way, watching as she studiously laid out her ingredients and set up her scales carefully. Chuckling, he pulled out his own essay.

"Your ten-inch essays on the Draught of Living Death are due today," said Slughorn cheerfully, scanning the class with his gooseberry eyes and flicking his wand to collect the essays.

Sirius watched his sail through the air toward Slughorn with confidence. He wasn't necessarily the best potion-maker, but he prided himself in his decent grades. He was no Remus Lupin, he though, or he would have to study _all_ the time, but schoolwork came easily to him. Usually, _everything_ came easy to him. Schoolwork, friends, girls…then why was it that he could not get that infernal Cassandra Beckett to so much as speak to him?

He glanced over at her, watching her sitting there so calmly, her expression hidden behind those ridiculous glasses and that thin hair. He thought he was decent-looking and had a fair amount of charm. So he had played pranks on her occasionally, so what? He was a Marauder! That was what he did. She had no right to silently spit in his face in front of the entire Great Hall. All he wanted from her was a "hello, Sirius" or maybe just a greeting of "Black".

Oh, how smug she looked. She most likely thought she was entirely better than anyone in Hogwarts. Ha! That was a funny thought. She was one of strangest girls he had seen. Most of the girls in Hogwarts spent hours on their hair, clothes, and makeup, but Cassie always looked the same, like she never took care of herself. There must be something attractive behind those glasses and hair. Come to think of it, she did have rather nice eyes. They were an almond-shape, deep brown with just a touch of green. Her hair could be nice, if she would get it cut in a different style that did not hang in her face. And she had a cute button nose, with a barely-visible splattering of freckles across the bridge. And her mouth, with her pink, slightly downturned lips, was also quite lovely.

_Wait. _

Was he finding Cassandra Beckett…_attractive?_

"Urgh," said Sirius in a muffled voice, realizing that he had been staring at Cassie for ten minutes. Of all the people to stare at!

James, Remus, and Peter had already started on their potions, and Sirius realized he must have missed Slughorn's entire lesson. Frantically pulling out his ingredients, he scanned the instructions on the blackboard and began to create the potion, watching in satisfaction as a silvery vapor rose from the cauldron. It wasn't perfect, but it was decent, and Sirius was satisfied. He gave a sigh of satisfaction, placing a sample of the potion into his flagon and labeling it. Standing up, he followed after Remus and placed his potion on Slughorn's desk for grading, returning to his seat, realizing there were still fifteen minutes to spare. He would have to wait for the other, slower, Hufflepuffs to finish up their work.

"Oi, James," whispered Sirius, pulling out his wand slowly, "what do you say we make Snape's cauldron explode on him?" he said, raising her eyebrows and looking in the direction of Snape, who was sitting at a table with three other sullen Slytherins.

James grinned back at Sirius, and Peter nearly squealed with excitement, clasping his hands together in anticipation, but Remus gave no indication that he had heard Sirius, although he certainly was close enough to have heard something.

Waving his wand, Sirius muttered a spell under his breath and watched as Snape's cauldron exploded magnificently, just as Cassandra walked by, a labeled flagon in her hands.

**x.X.x. **

"Bloody _hell_," whispered Emily, throwing in a handful of eel's eyes and watching as the contents of her cauldron hissed menacingly, "why won't this work?" Her blonde hair clung to her cheeks from the heat of the blackish steam that rose from her cauldron, and she gritted her teeth in frustration.

"Add a dash of salamander juice," said Cassie quickly, labeling her flagon in satisfaction, staring at the silvery, nearly clear vapor that was rising from her potion. She had nearly messed up her potion halfway through making it because of Sirius Black. She could have almost sworn that he was staring at her, but guys didn't stare at her, ever. She must have seen imagining things. Standing up, she made her way to the front of the room.

_Boom!_

A cauldron next to her exploded with a loud bang, splattering the contents on the walls, floor, and even on her robes. She nearly dropped her flagon in surprise, staring at the cauldron and wondering what the source of the problem was. Snape, who had just come back from Slughorn's desk, let out a yelp of anger, siphoning the potion off his desk and robes rapidly. He turned to Cassandra furiously, glaring at her. "What did you do?" he hissed.

Slughorn looked up from his desk in confusion, his eyes resting upon Cassie and Snape. "Now, now, what's going on here?" he said, rising from his seat.

"Professor Slughorn, sir, she did this to my potion!" said Snape in a low, dangerous voice.

Cassie's eyes widened, horrified that she was going to be accused of something she had nothing to do with.

Slughorn turned to her, looking quite surprised. "Did you do this to Mr. Snape's cauldron, Miss Beckett?" he asked.

Cassie just stood there, not able to find the words to defend herself.

**.x.X.x.**

"Ha! That was bloody brilliant, mate!" laughed James in a low voice, watching Snape's howl of rage. Sirius gave a quick bark of laughter, then stopped as Snape accused Cassie of hexing his potion.

"Think Slughorn will give her a detention?" said James. "No, he wouldn't. She's bloody perfect in class, he would never."

Sirius watched the scene in front of him, unable to stand it any longer. He felt a rare stab of guilt somewhere in his chest. Standing up, he said in a clear voice, "Professor, I jinxed Snape's potion."

James' mouth fell open in surprise at what his friend was doing. "Why are you turning yourself in?" he said, as if Sirius had completely and utterly lost his mind.

"Very well," said Slughorn, looking extremely bothered, "I'll have to assign a detention for you and Miss Beckett," he said, flicking his wand once to clean up the mess, then walking back over to his desk and writing up two detention slips.

"But, Professor Slughorn, Cassandra-"

"No excuses, Mr. Black," scolded Slughorn, finishing off the detention slips with a flourish of his quill. "I'll except you two at my office by nine o'clock tomorrow night," he said, holding out the slips for them to take.

Cassie took hers with an unreadable face, her eyes hidden behind the glasses. She made her way back to her table, wordlessly scooping up her books and making her way out of the room.

Sirius strode forward angrily and snatched the slip from Slughorn as well. He couldn't believe that he had been stupid enough to say something when he could have gotten away with his prank. And now he was going to have to spend a whole detention not with James, but with Cassandra Beckett, who never said a word if she could help it. Bloody effing brilliant.

**.x.X.x. **

Cassie walked down the hallway as students filled out of their various classrooms, tears running down her cheeks. Why couldn't she ever speak up for herself? Why did she freeze when something happened? But even though she was hurt, she was surprised by one thing.

Sirius Black had stuck up for her.


	3. Of Detentions and Dungbombs

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed and ESPECIALLY to everyone who favorited. WOW. :) I hope you like this chapter just as much. And chapter 4 should be out by the end of the week, if you were wondering. Thanks again. **

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**.::Chapter 3 – Of Detentions and Dungbombs::.**

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Scarlet had apparently decided to start talking to Cassie now that she had been the lucky recipient of a detention with the notorious Sirius Black. In fact, she had barely stopped talking since Cassie had entered the girl's dormitory, and even Emily was beginning to grow annoying at the girl's incessant rambling.

"How did you think of it, Cassie?" squealed Scarlet, grabbing Cassie by the shoulders excitedly. "If only I had known that a simple prank of Snape would have gotten me a detention with Sirius, I would have blown his cauldron up – heck, I would have blown him up – ages ago. Honestly, think of how lucky you are. Every other girl right now wants to be you. You, Sirius Black, alone in an empty classroom with nothing to do!"

"Honestly, Scarlet, she's not a slut!" exclaimed Emily. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, flipping through the latest edition of Witch Weekly, but not able to concentrate because of Scarlet. "She'll finish the detention and it will be over with. Frankly, I think it would terribly to have detention with Black. He probably won't stop going on about himself and flicking his hair back and forth like a prat."

Scarlet let out a humph and fell backwards onto her bed, her eyes still staring at the ceiling dreamily, but with a bit of jealously mixed in, as if Cassie had done something wrong by not letting her in on her secret to jinx Snape's cauldron.

Cassie was sitting on the floor, schoolbooks spread out around her. She was nibbling on her quill thoughtful, in the middle of a Transfiguration essay about Animagi. She had always found the subject extremely interesting and was having a hard time keeping the essay under eight inches. Another thought filling her head, she reached down and scribbled a new sentence with her quill quickly. She had barely heard a word Scarlet had said about Sirius Black. In fact, she preferred to think that the event had never happened at all. The thought of hours alone with Sirius Black to taunt her was something she would rather not concentrate on at the moment. Her essay, at the moment, was doing the trick of keeping her mind occupied.

"Did you do it on purpose?" said Emily with wide eyes, unable to read her magazine any longer. "That's so unlike you. Has he been messing with you along with Lucius?"

Cassie couldn't help but look up. How did Emily know about Lucius and how he always taunted her. She had tried to keep that a secret, but somehow, Emily seemed to know a lot about her. Almost like a friend. Cassie couldn't help but smile at that thought.

"Well?" Emily persisted.

Scarlet sat up, her interest obviously piqued as well. She tried to hide it by examining her reflection in a nearby mirror, but Cassie could tell she was listening in. Her lips were pursed in the way they always did when she eavesdropped. Cassie had learned a lot about her fellow students by sitting and listening instead of running her mouth like most other girls.

Finally, Cassie shook her head almost imperceptibly.

Emily moved forward slightly on her bed, her eyebrows raised. "So it was an accident?"

Again, Cassie shook her head. Why did everyone keep thinking that she was in on it with Sirius Black when they should have known that she would never in her life do something so ridiculous.

"Sirius did do it, didn't he?" exclaimed Scarlet suddenly, surprising Cassie with her quickness. "You had nothing to do with it!" Her tone was almost scoffing, like she had gone down a notch in Scarlet's eyes because she was not clever enough to plan out her detention with Black.

"No, I didn't!" spoke up Cassie at last, realizing that she could hold her precious silence for no longer. "Sirius played the prank and I just happened to walk past as the cauldron exploded." She let out a sigh, returning to her homework as if she had not said anything.

"Ha!" shouted Scarlet, bouncing up and down on her bed excitedly. "I should have known it! You couldn't have been clever enough to plan a detention with Sirius. You won't even talk to him, let alone go on a date! You don't deserve it!" she pouted. "I do!"

"Oh, come off it!" Emily said irritably, crossing her arms. "It's not like detention is suddenly some sort of treat. Cassie's probably miserable enough as it is because she was accused in front of the whole class for doing something she didn't. Now you're going to make it better by yelling at her?"

"I'm not yelling!" huffed Scarlet. "I'm just saying. She doesn't deserve this one bit. She'll probably make Sirius miserable by sitting there like a prat staring at the wall while he had to suffer by dying of boredom when he could be with some other girl. A prettier, more talkative girl who doesn't think she's better than everyone else and then goes around showing it by ignoring everyone! Someone who will actually give Sirius what he needs!"

"Just because you've slept with every bloke in the school," said Emily in a furious voice, leaping of her bed, "doesn't mean Cassie's going to turn into a slut like you!"

The room was silent for a few seconds. Cassie's mouth nearly fell open in shock, and her quill lay idle on her parchment. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the two girls. Scarlet's mouth was open in complete horror, and Emily's face was red, her short hair tucked behind her ears and her face red as she stared down Scarlet.

Finally, Scarlet huffed once again and left the room without a word, her arms crossed. Emily slammed the door behind her, still looking as angry as ever. She made her way to the bed, picking up her copy of Witch Weekly, and began to read.

Cassie sat there for several moments, contemplating on what had just taken place in front of her. For once in her life, someone had harassed her and another person had stuck up for her. It was a defining moment in her life, something she would never forget, although she did not know it at the time. Her quill still lay on her parchment, her hands motionless. At last, she took a deep breath and spoke. "Thanks." It was simple, but meaningful, and she hoped that Emily would understand.

Emily looked up from behind her magazine at Cassie, surprised. "You're welcome," she said as if it had been nothing. And to Emily, it was nothing. Cassie had always watched how fierce she was when she stood for something, and how kind and devoted she was to her friends. It came as second nature for Emily to protect someone she loved. But Cassie did not know what it felt like to be a friend. It felt like a mixture of strange happiness of pride. Pride that she was important enough to have someone in the world who cared, and happiness that she was loved. The feeling was new and different, but not altogether terrible. She could get used to this…this friendship.

**.x.X.x.**

The next morning flew by without event. Scarlet had eventually returned to the dormitory along with her Ravenclaw friend, Elle, and they had both disdainfully ignored both Cassie and Emily, although when the lights were turned out and Cassie was lying in her bed, Cassie could hear the two whispering hateful comments about her and her friend. Cassie did not care, however, because her happiness far surpassed Scarlet's cruelty.

Classes passed without event. Neither Sirius Black nor his friends had neared or spoke to Cassie, although Remus had flashed a kind smile in Cassie's direction. Emily, thinking it was for her, nearly squealed, but her elation had been quelled by a furious look from Scarlet. Everyone was still treating Cassie with a sort of reverence, and rumors traveled around the school like wildfire. Some of them told the truth, but many of them were untrue and put Cassie in a bad light. Her heart sank the more she heard girls talking about her, but she tried to ignore what they said.

As she walked along with Emily to Transfiguration, she heard a few girls ahead of her talking about her upcoming detention with Sirius Black. As usual, they had no idea that she was walking behind them. She kept her head down, not trying to attract attention, but Emily's fists were balled, her face full of fury at the two girls and their gossip.

"I heard Sirius Black fancies her secretly and planned the cauldron exploding so she would get a detention as well as him," said the first, a tall girl with dark hair and braces.

"Honestly, Beckett?" laughed the other girl. She had brown hair that was pleated down her back. "There must be a hundred better-looking girls in the school. She's positively…I don't even know how describe her. It's like she wakes up every morning, throws on those hideous glasses of hers, and actually thinks she looks decent. And don't get me started on her hair. She and Snape should start some sort of secret society for people who don't believe in shampoo."

The first girl let out a tittering, obnoxious laugh that echoed down the corridor. "You're right. She must have planned it out, hoping that Sirius would take the blame because he felt sorry for her. Who couldn't, the poor dear. She has no taste in clothing, no friends-"

"It's her fault!" interrupted the dark-haired girl. "She thinks she's better than us all because she knows everything in class. She never stands up and answers the questions like Evans, of course, but I see her scribbling down all the answers and finishing half an hour before all of us."

"My mum's a physiatrist as St. Mungo's," said the second girl, "and she says Beckett makes up for her lack of friends in her schoolwork."

"If she makes up for her lack of good grooming, too, then she must be bloody brilliant," snorted the first girl. The other girl let out a tittering laugh along with her friend.

Cassie's cheeks were red with humiliation at that point. She felt so shamed she kept her gaze at the floor, but she could feel Emily quivering in rage beside her. Before she could look up and beg her not to say anything, her friend had leapt forward toward the two other girls.

"Shut your mouths before I hex them shut!" she exclaimed, pulling out her wand furiously. The two girls stared at her, the first girl giving a contemptuous snort.

"Honestly, Everett," she said, raising an eyebrow, "you're sticking up for her?"

"Yeah," said Emily defensively, "yeah, I am. You have anything to say about it?"

The girl looked at her friend, obviously convinced Emily was addled in the head. The first girl opened her mouth to say something, then stopped at the sight of Remus Lupin approaching. He was a prefect and even they knew to watch what they said in front of him. Emily let them go, pocketing her wand furiously, and heading toward Cassie, obviously oblivious to Remus approaching. "Honestly, those stupid prats. I should have hexed them…"

"No, I think they got the point," said Cassie with a thankful smile, still feeling slightly depressed. She tried to look cheerful, however.

Suddenly, Emily was not looking at Cassie anymore, but behind her. Remus Lupin was jogging toward the two girls. Sirius was behind him with Peter and James, but Cassie avoided his eyes.

"Emily Everett, right?" asked Lupin. He looked exhausted, the scars standing out on his face more than ever and his blue eyes seemed more translucent than usual. However, the kind smile was still there on his face as he looked at Emily.

Emily nodded, smiling. "And you're Remus Lupin," she said, a little giggle at the end of her words. "Are you going to take points from Ravenclaw? Because if you are, first let me tell you that those two girls deserved everything that they were going to get. They always badmouth people, and this time it went too far-"

"No, I wasn't going to deduct points, Emily," said Remus patiently. "I just wanted to make sure everything was all right. Prefect's duty, you see," he said, looking somewhat down at the thought.

"Well, everything is all right now," said Emily cheerful, "but I'll come get you if there's ever another problem. In fact, maybe you could come around even if there isn't a problem. Maybe on a Hogsmeade weekend? You know, I would need a nice, strong man around just in case trouble arose." She tapped Remus on the shoulder.

Cassie winced. Emily had never been shy, which could be a benefit or her downfall.

Remus looked slightly mortified. "Well, I'll be there on the next Hogsmeade weekend, of course, just to make sure everyone is all right."

Emily continued to smile in a way that she obviously thought was endearing. "Maybe we could get a butterbeer together?" she said sweetly.

Remus grew paler than ever. "I…I need to go," he said, ducking into the Transfiguration classroom. Peter, giggling in a high-pitched voice along with a snickering James, followed him inside. Emily shot them hateful looks, but did not say anything. She marched into the classroom behind them, and Cassie heard her throwing her things down at an empty desk loudly.

Sirius passed behind them. Cassie kept staring at the floor, but felt Sirius's eyes on her. " Come on, Beckett," said Sirius in frustration, apparently unable to contain himself any longer. "Can't you just say one word to me? I even admitted that I had blown up Snivelus's cauldron so that you wouldn't get detention. What do you hate about me so much, eh? Please?"

Cassie looked up, her eyes meeting his. His brown orbs were wide and pleading, his mouth set in an almost puppy-like pout. It was terribly hard to resist, Cassie thought. She wanted to speak, but her mouth felt hexed closed as it always did around him.

"Miss Beckett and Mr. Black," came McGonagall's irritated voice from inside the classroom. "I'm sure you both have much more important things to do than Transfiguration, but unfortunately, class is starting and I recommend that you do not miss it."

Sirius shot Cassie an angry, incredulous look and brushed past her into the classroom. Cassie followed, feeling all eyes on her as she made her way toward the desk next to Emily's. She sat down, putting her books in front of her and flipping to the page written on the blackboard, a single tear welling up in her eye. Why did she always let the perfect opportunity pass when all she had to do was speak up?

**.x.X.x.**

"Bloody Beckett," said Sirius furiously, jabbing his toad in the eye with his wand. It let out an offended croak.

"Careful, Padfoot," said Remus, reaching forward and stopping the toad from escaping. "You're supposed to be silencing the toad, not blinding it."

Sirius gave his friend an annoyed scowl, waving his wand once at the toad and silencing it mid-croak. "Thanks, Moony. Didn't know that." He still wore a dark expression, apparently still furious at the way Cassie had ignored him in the hallway.

"I WAS NICE TO HER-"

Remus, looking slightly aghast, shushed his friend mid-sentence by holding up a hand frantically. Luckily, Sirius' outburst had not caught McGonagall's attention, but a few Ravenclaws were staring at the four marauders, looking rather offended at their interrupting of a potions class. Sirius shot them glares like everything he was going through at the moment was their fault, then turned back to Remus, looking slightly cowed.

"I was nice to her, Remus," he said darkly. "I ever said bloody _please._"

"You said please?" said James, looking up from his book with sudden interest. "Gallant of you, Padfoot. It's like you were raised in civilization instead of in a cave with a couple of Neanderthals," he added dryly. Sirius tossed a quill in James' direction, which he caught with one hand, looking overly pleased with himself.

"But honestly," sighed Sirius, "what girl could resist the charm of the notorious Sirius Black? I'm irresistible to the ladies!"

"Apparently, Beckett can and already has," Remus said in a bored voice, not looking up from his Transfiguration book. "Pity."

"But you never care about girls anyway!" squeaked Peter, looking frustrated at his still-squawking bird.

"I _do_," said Sirius with annoyance, "it's just they're too bloody demanding for my time. I'd rather spend my time with you lot, playing pranks."

"Touching," quipped James sarcastically, flipping to another page in his schoolbook and making a notation with his quill.

"So why do you care about Beckett, then?" Peter said loudly. Again, several heads turned in the four friends' direction, making Sirius glare at Peter furiously.

"I don't!" said Sirius in a hiss, "It's just…just…who is so rude that they don't say a word to someone! And I admit, I haven't always been the kindest to her-"

Here James interrupted with a skeptical snort and Remus raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"-but I've done anything but played with her sometimes. She could at least talk to me! One _bloody_ word. That's all I'm asking."

"Well, mate, maybe you'll get your chance tonight," James said encouragingly. "After all, you do have that detention with Slughorn. Beckett will be there."

"I won't stay there that long if I can help it," Sirius said, crossing his arms. "You still have that dungbomb hidden, right?"

"Despite my wishes, yes," Remus answered. "It's wrapped in Peter's knickers in his trunk. It was Prongs' brilliant idea to hide them there."

James shot Remus an offended look. "Honestly, Remus, I think my idea _was_ rather brilliant."

"Why Peter's knickers?" said Sirius, wrinkling his nose slightly. "Why not anywhere else? Anywhere else in the world?"

"Because, dear Padfoot," said James, clapping Sirius on the back, "the last place anyone would want to look would be Peter's knickers."

"Hey!" squawked Peter as the two friends nodded in agreement.

**.x.X.x.**

It was five till seven. Cassie's hands were shaking as she made her way down the corridor toward the potions classroom. Her footsteps were echoing in the hallway, magnifying her nervousness. She could barely focus her mind on making her way to the end of the hallway so great was her nervousness about detention. Sirius Black would be there with yet another plan to humiliate her. She could tell he was furious after the incident outside the Transfiguration classroom. She honestly had been intending to talk to him, but she always felt like she shut down every time he looked at her and spoke to her.

She turned into the Potions classroom, and to her great relief, the only other person was Slughorn, sitting at his desk, a pile of papers in front of him, and his hand buried in a package of crystallized pineapple. "Ah, Miss Beckett," said Slughorn through a mouthful of pineapple, "right on time. Please, take a seat."

Cassie turned to look behind her and saw two separate stacks of paper, each on one of two desks. There was also a quill onto of the paper. Cassie sighed. So she was assigned lines for detention. It could not be that terrible, then. Sirius Black would probably be too busy writing to actually spend time trying to taunt her again.

She slid into her seat, opening her mouth to ask what she was to write, then saw that it was written on the blackboard. "I will treat my fellow students with kindness and respect." Picking up her quill, she scribbled down the line on the top of the parchment, wondering when Sirius was going to show up. It already four minutes past the time that he should have arrived.

"Sorry, Professor!" came the voice of a boy, and Cassie looked up to find Sirius Black skidding into the classroom, a guilty look on his face. She wondered if he was merely guilty of being late, or if he was up to something yet again. She shook her head. She did not want to become involved in any pranks of his ever again. Not after the incident in potions class.

Sirius Black fell into his seat, glancing up at the blackboard with an amused expression on his face. It was obvious he thought that the words were silly and meaningless. Cassie wished that she were less shy so that she could glare at him. He wrote down the sentence quickly, starting again with a bored expression on his face.

Fourty-five minutes passed in near silence, only the sound of quill against parchment sounding throughout the room, and the occasional munching of Slughorn. He had already gone though three boxes of pineapple, and Cassie felt like reaching forward and tossing the box across the room and ridding herself of the accursed crunching. She could tell Sirius was thinking the same thing by the way he tensed up every time Slughorn let out a particularly loud smacking noise. He also seemed to be waiting for something to happen, almost counting down minutes.

An explosion sounded in another room. Slughorn, who had been half asleep, started up from his desk. Cassie's eyes narrowed, and she glanced to her side at a smirking Sirius Black, his dark hair falling with a careless grace into his gleaming eyes.

The door opened, and Cassie caught the distinct scent of dung filling the room. Professor McGonagall stuck her head in the door, looking rather flustered. "Professor Slughorn," she said, sounding quite out-of-breath, "there's some sort of dungbomb in the corridors. It looks like it's bewitched similar to Bludger, except it reacts in an opposite manner. Every time a teacher tries to grab it, it evades their grasp. When we try getting rid of it with magic, it just explodes and reappears again. We need your help."

"Right away, dear Minerva," said Slughorn, standing with effort from his seat, looking quite sad to part from his pineapple. He turned to Cassie and Sirius with a sigh. "You've been here long enough. You can pack your things and head back to your dormitories." With that, he pulled out his wand and followed McGonagall out of the room.

Cassie grabbed her bookbag and darted from the room as soon as possible, heading in the opposite direction of the teachers, her nose wrinkled at the terrible stench filling the hallway. She heard footsteps behind her and quickened her pace, but to no avail. Sirius Black soon caught up with her, a wicked smile on his face.

"Come on, Beckett," he said, "can't you just say one word to me? I even got my friends to let us out of detention by setting off that dungbomb!"

Cassie darted up a flight of steps. The Ravenclaw common room was only a few steps away, and she had to it and she had to get away from Sirius Black. He was running now, following after her.

Cassie answered the question she needed to answer to enter the common room, hoping it was correct so that she could enter. Sirius Black was standing behind her, his arms crossed angrily. Cassie felt very tempted to say something, but she did not know what to say. Sirius Black probably only wanted her to talk so that he could make fun of her again.

"Look, Beckett, if you really hate me this much, then I won't talk to you again," Sirius said, looking quite defeated. His grey eyes did not sparkle playfully now, but they were dark and deadly serious. "So, speak to me, Beckett. Here's your chance to say something."

Cassie finally realized that Sirius was not playing with her. This was her last chance to speak up and say something. But as usual, she let the opportunity pass because she was too afraid to do the simplest thing possible. To speak up. The silence lasted for a long time – too long – with Sirius looking Cassie straight in the eye. Finally, it grew too much and she looked away.

Suddenly McGonagall appeared behind Sirius, her arms crossed as well. She must have been following them and listening in for quite some time. "You and your friends have a lot of explaining to do, Mr. Black," she said. "After you clean up the bomb you and your friends set up. Goodnight, Miss Beckett," she said, turning to Cassie and clearly asking her to leave. Cassie stepped through the entranceway to the Ravenclaw classroom, grateful to obey McGongall's orders. Before she left, however, she caught one look at Sirius' face. On his face was a mixture of hurt and anger. Cassie suddenly felt like monster, and wondered why she had never spoken to Sirius in the first place.


	4. Of Hogsmeade and Heartbreak

**A/N: **Sorry it took a little to get this chapter up! I hope you like it. Thanks for the reviews and favorites. Please let me know how you liked this chapter, too. :)**

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**.::Chapter 4 – Of Hogsmeade and Heartbreak::.**

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The days passed quickly for Cassie, and between her heavy load of homework and the times she spent with Emily, it seemed as if the first Hogsmeade weekend had approached in only a few seconds. All the students were talking excitedly about their first trip out to the wizarding village. Most of the boys were betting amongst themselves how much candy they would devour from Honeydukes and how they planned to sneak of to the Hogs Head and drink a bottle of firewhisky, and the girls were talking about their dates to the Three Broomsticks and about visiting the haunted Shrieking Shack.

Cassie sat in the corner of her dorm room, scribbling down homework as usual. Scarlet was ignoring her, her new favorite tactic to get to Cassie, and was giggling with several girls other Ravenclaw girls about the upcoming trip. She tried to block out their incessant giggling but was unable to help but overhear Scarlet boasting about her latest date.

"He asked you out, Scarlet?" said pale girl with dark lashes curiously. "When did this happen? I didn't know you two talked. " She examined her nails then looked back up at Scarlet with interest.

"I guess he finally came to his senses," Scarlet said snootily. "I'm supposed to meet him at the Three Broomsticks for a drink," she continued, looking insanely pleased with herself. "He asked me about two weeks ago. But of course, almost every girl has a date. Besides for that stupid Beckett. She wouldn't even speak to Sirius Black – _Sirius Black_ – when he tried to get her to talk."

Cassie felt a bit of unexpected anger rise up inside of her, but she looked away and did not say anything. She did not need anymore trouble than she was already getting from half the girls in the school at the moment. She was known as the girl who was pursued by Sirius Black only to coldly ignore him and ruin her chance. Cassie knew better, though. Sirius liked games, and he thought what Cassie was doing was a game. He had tried his best to loose it, and even though he had not spoken to her since that night after detentions, Cassie knew the game was far from over. The only way it would end is if Sirius Black won, which meant Cassie would have to speak to him.

That was a task that was all the harder, now that Sirius was back to his old self. The old person who always mocked her in front of his friends just to get a good laugh. The person who never quite loathed her enough to send spells flying her way, but sent insults that hurt just about as much. Every cruel word pierced Cassie like it was a sharpened knife. The only people who did not laugh were Remus Lupin, who generally pretended he did not hear, and Emily, who occasionally rolled her eyes at Sirius' antics and left with Cassie.

"Well," I should get ready, "said Scarlet, standing up and heading to the mirror to adjust her hair. "I'll see you in ten minutes when we turn in our permission slips to Filch." The four other girls turned and left, giggling and talking to themselves as Emily entered the room, apparently just having heard the news. She looked furious.

She headed toward where Scarlet was applying her mascara heavily. Scarlet glanced up at her from the mirror with a raised eyebrow. "Everett?" she said coldly.

"I can't believe you said yes," Emily said bluntly.

"Why shouldn't I have said yes?" said Scarlet like Emily had just asked the stupidest question she had ever heard in her life.

"And he's using you," said Emily simply.

Scarlet snorted. "No bloke uses me. They're lucky to have me, simply put."

"You wouldn't think so, the way you act," Emily said, sickened. "You should take my friendly advice. He probably gone out with a total of three girls in his entire life. The others he just snogs, shags or maybe, if he's feeling like a gentleman, invites them for a drink at Hogsmeade for entertainment. Don't put yourself out to get hurt. As much as I dislike you, I don't want to see that happen to you. I know how much you fancy him."

Scarlet turned to Emily, rage apparent in her every feature. "Shut up, Everett, and stay out of where you don't belong." With that, she turned back to the mirror, applying her lipstick furiously. Emily glared at her then walked over to where Cassie was standing.

"Come on, Cassie," she said, noticing how upset Cassie looked. "Let's head out of the common room now. She placed a hand on her shoulder kindly. "It'll be all right," she said. "The sooner you forget about Sirius Black the better. Scarlet just likes to rub it in."

Scarlet huffed, throwing down her lipstick and picking up her purse, heading out the door and slamming it shut behind her. Emily rolled her eyes angrily, pretending she did not see Scarlet leave. Cassie was curious about the mystery person who was taking Scarlet out, but supposed it was just another one of her flings. Emily did not seem willing to talk about it, so Cassie did not press the subject.

"I shouldn't go," said Cassie spoke up, slightly downhearted after what she had heart Scarlet say. "Sirius Black will be there…and Scarlet…"

Emily laughed. Cassie looked up, slightly offended. "Scarlet?" said Emily. "Really! She looks like a clown with all the makeup she is wearing. You look so much more natural than she does. But," she said, circling around me in the hawk-like way of hers that always let me know she was planning something, "you have a pretty face if you would just pull your hair back. You can borrow one of my headbands if you want."

Cassie blushed, shaking her head quickly, but knowing Emily would not give up so easily. "Honestly, Cassie," said Emily, picking up a black headband and examining it critically, "you should try it. Here."

She handed Cassie the headband, who hesitantly placed on her head, pulling her hair back from her face and adjusting it slightly. "It kind of feels strange around my ears since my glasses are there," Cassie said, looking for an excuse to take it off. It made her feel exposed, like the world could know everything she was feeling. And that was something she did not like at all.

"Well!" Emily reached forward, and before Cassie could protest, took Cassie's glasses off. "You only need them for reading, right?"

Cassie reached out to take her glasses, but Emily jerked her hand away, holding them above her head. "Yes," admitted Cassie grudgingly. "But I read a lot…so can I have them back, please?"

"You look lovely!" protested Emily, pointing to the mirror. Cassie looked critically. She thought her face looked rather naked without the glasses, but she supposed she owed it to Emily since she had stuck up for her almost every day since the incident with Scarlet. Besides, there was nothing she could do to make herself any less liked as it was, so she might as well follow what Emily said.

"Thanks," she sighed, standing up. "We should go."

Emily nodded, following her. "We should. Everyone is probably ready to go by now."

**.x.X.x.**

Most of the students were gathered at the Three Broomsticks, with the exception of a few seventh-year stragglers who made their way to the Hogs Head. Sirius had been to the Hogs Head and had even tried a few firewhiskeys quite a while before his fifth year, and was already bored of the pub. Besides, he had a date in a few minutes at the Three Broomsticks. He was not quite sure why he had asked a girl out in the first place. He supposed it was out of revenge toward Beckett after she had refused to talk to him, even after he had been what he considered quite the gentleman more than once toward her. He thought actually sitting and talking over a drink with a girl was a terrible boring thing to be doing. It was only for Beckett. Of course, he was convinced that she did not fancy him – far from it – but he half-wished that somehow his actions would get to her heart…that heart that was too cold to even speak to him once.

"We've passed the building five times already, Padfoot," said James impatiently. "I'm just wondering when we are going to use that wonderful modern marvel called a door and go inside."

"A Hogsmeade weekend is supposed to be bloody fun!" snapped Sirius, half to himself. "Not to be spent with some girl sitting down and talking the whole time!"

"Oh, come on," said James encouragingly. "It can't be all that bad, can it."

"It can," said Sirius darkly.

"I'm hungry!" piped in Peter, who was looking quite out of breath from following along with all the pacing that Sirius was doing and was gulping in massive amounts of air as if it was soon to run out.

"Fine," said Sirius, swerving sharply and pushing the door open, shoving his way past several students. "Let's just get this over with."

James followed him inside along with Peter. Remus was elsewhere, Sirius wasn't sure where, patrolling and making sure students obeyed the rules. Sirius knew he would rather be with his friends, but being a prefect, he had certain duties he had to carry out. Sirius almost wished Remus was here right now. His quiet way of giving needed advice far surpassed James' hilarious quips at the moment.

They made their way through the crowded building, heading to the bar. James and Peter sat down. James and Peter ordered a butterbeer and waited for Sirius to do the same. He sighed. "I have to go…I have to meet…" he gestured to his left toward Sirius' date, who was sitting alone at the bar, drumming her fingertips impatiently.

James kindly resisted smirking. "Good luck then, mate. Meet you back here in half an hour, all right?"

"Right," mumbled Sirius, making his way to his date. This date had been a terrible idea of his. Cassie did not seem to even be here. He gritted his teeth. He just needed to get this over with.

**.x.X.x.**

"Oh, the Three Broomsticks!" squealed Emily. "We could get excellent butterbeers in there!" Cassie raised her eyebrow slightly, confused as to why her friend would be so excited about a butterbeer. Then she saw Remus Lupin making his way into the Three Broomsticks where his other two friends were, talking and sipping their butterbeers.

"Right," said Cassie, deciding not to tease Emily about Remus. She had already been miserable about how Remus had practically tripped over his feet trying to escape from her two weeks ago. Of course, being Emily, she had refused to give up the fight and had almost obsessively stalked him since then. Luckily, Remus had not caught wind of it or he would have been even more frightened. "Let's go have some butterbeer."

Looking absolutely delighted, Emily flew into the Three Broomsticks, nearly squealing. Cassie followed after her, feeling slightly panicked. She hoped that Emily would not do anything terribly stupid. She lost Emily in the crowd, bumping into a few of Scarlet's friends. They snickered to themselves and one dark-lashed girl she had seen in the Ravenclaw dorm room that morning looked at her in a condescending manner.

"Trying to look pretty now, Beckett?"

Cassie tried to push past them, but they would not budge. She looked around in a panic for Emily. She was not in the mood for a confrontation but it was more than obvious that these girls were.

"You thought you'd try getting rid of those hideous glasses?" said a blonde-haired girl with a smirk. "Good move, except," she said with a little titter, "that nobody cares, especially Sirius Black. Here's a hint for you. If you want a bloke to notice you, talking to him is a first step."

"Sod off," came Emily's voice, shoving through the gaggle of girls and grabbing Cassie by the arm. "And go work another corner," she shot at the girls, pulling Cassie away from them as they let out offended huffs and gasps.

She pulled Cassie toward the bar where Remus and Peter were sitting. "I'm keeping an eye on Remus," she whispered to Cassie excitedly. "And I promise I'm not doing anything mortifying," she added, seeing Cassie's face. "I'm behaving myself and it's going all right." Cassie slipped into a seat next to Emily.

She glanced over at Remus. He was sitting beside James and Peter, talking and glancing around the Three Broomsticks, apparently keeping an eye on the other students. It seemed like he was not exactly pleased with his duties, but he was following them nonetheless. Suddenly it struck her that a marauder was missing. Sirius was not there among them, elbowing his friends after making some sort of joke or after sending a hex toward a stuck-up Slytherin. She glanced around the room.

"Where is Sirius?" she said, regretting the question after it left her lips. Now Emily would know that she was actually thinking about Sirius and looking for him. Fortunately, Emily was far too absorbed in watching Remus' every little action to care about Cassie's line of thinking.

"He's over there with Scarlet, the prat," she said absent-mindedly. Suddenly, she glanced over at Cassie, clasping a hand over her mouth. "You weren't supposed to know," she said quickly. "I mean, not that you fancy him, but I knew Scarlet and Sirius were doing it just to get to you.

Cassie's mind was filled with a consuming buzz, not allowing room for any other thought. She had just spotted him now, his hair falling with that simple grace of his into his grey eyes, glancing at Scarlet, who was laughing in between sips of butterbeer, all over Sirius. First her hand was on his shoulder, then she was running her fingers through his hair. Somehow seeing Scarlet there with Sirius made something snap inside of Cassie.

"I need some fresh air," said Cassie blankly, standing up robotically and making her way to the door, stumbling through the crowd. She did not know where she was going but she knew it was somewhere away from this place, with its overpowering laughter and chatter of students.

"Cassie, come back!' Emily called anxiously. "I'm sorry!"

Cassie did not hear her, pushing the door open and making her way to the streets, turning left. What she did not see was Lucius and his friend Crabbe, along with another dark-haired boy, standing up and following after Cassie with a sneer on their faces. Emily did, however, and knew they were up to no good.

**.x.X.x.**

Sirius Black knew by the darkening sky that it must have been almost eight o'clock at night, yet he had somehow not escaped from Scarlet yet. He glanced over with a panicked look at Remus, James, and Peter. At first, James had ignored him with a smirk on his face, but now he was beginning to look slightly irritated at Scarlet as well. He waved urgently to his friend, hoping he would be able to make an excuse to Scarlet.

"So I told that slut that she better not come around Chuck again or I'd claw her eyes out, and so…"

"Scarlet. _Love_," Sirius added endearingly as Scarlet shot Sirius an angry look for interrupting her. "I really need to go. You know what a_ wonderful_ time I've had but you know," he laughed nervous, "my friends. Annoying prats." He said unconvincingly.

"All right," said Scarlet with an unattractive pout as Sirius stood up quickly. "Then will I see you around?"

"Maybe," Sirius called out as he sprinted away, turning to his friends and shaking his head once.

"Smooth, mate," said James, making room for Sirius. Sirius slammed his head down on the counter once.

"I'm going to kill you, James," he said, looking back up with narrowed eyes. "You know that I was being tortured – _tortured_ – over there and you just sat here. Prat," he said as he hit James on the arm.

"Watch it," smirked James, pretending to be hurt. "I need this baby for Quidditch."

"Really, eh?" Sirius said, "You need your head too? Because that's about to get bashed in."

"Honestly, mate, enough!" said James worriedly, almost upsetting a bottle of butterbeer in his haste to control Sirius. "Besides, it worked. Beckett left here almost at the verge of tears. You happy now?"

"It wasn't about revenge!" exclaimed Sirius indignantly. "I just…I…"

"…made a split-second decision out of anger that you have come to regret," said Remus calmly, finishing Sirius' sentence.

Sirius shot him a look, then suddenly it evaporated and changed to charm as the attractive and voluptuous Rosemerta approaching, clearing away James', Remus', and Peter's empty bottles of butterbeer. Rosemerta was only a few years older than Sirius and had begun to work at the Three Broomsticks last year.

"Rosmerta, love," he said with a smile. "How about a firewhisky for me, eh?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you seventeen?"

Sirius leaned in closer. "No, but what about you just – oi! Watch it!"

Rosmerta had hit Sirius on the head with a rag she was using to clean the countertops. James began to laugh, but immediately changed to a coughing fit mid-chuckle. Rosmerta walked off indignantly, hands on her hips.

Sirius rubbed his head, offended. "What is with the bloody female gender lately?" he said in alarm.

"Looks like your problem is about to get a lot worse," observed James, still recovering from his laughter.

Sirius swerved around to find a furious-looking girl around his age flying in his direction. He racked his brain, trying to remember who she was, then recalled a certain blonde-haired girl hitting on Remus a few weeks ago with little success. She was attractive in her own way, but looked like she was about to whip out her wand and hex Sirius to oblivion, which made him wonder if he should grin charmingly or look frightened. In the end, he decided on the middle, a half sneer which made him look like he belonged at the mental ward of St. Mungos instead of Hogwarts.

"You _prat_!" shouted Emily, giving Sirius a shove. She was out of breath and red-faced. "Prat-" she shoved Sirius again, making him stumble off the barstool in alarm, "prat-" here he was shoved back against the counter, "_prat_!"

"Watch it, woman!" said Sirius, finally recovering. "What's your problem?"

"You, Sirius Black, you pernicious, conniving basta-"

"What?" yelped Sirius Black. "What did I ever do to you?" he exclaimed, wondering if he had possibly snogged her or something in the past. Taking another look at her, he decided he hadn't. He would never snog something that crazy.

"You went out with Scarlet. Scarlet Effing Edwards, and now Cassie ran off and is somewhere in the village with Malfoy and his cronies following after her and I've searched for hours and I can't find her anywhere and it's all because of YOU!"

Sirius' mouth fell open. "So she does fancy me," he said at last, a crooked grin making its way to his face. "I knew it all along. So she was upset when she saw me and Scarlet, eh?

"You!" said Emily vengefully, pointing a finger in Sirius' face, "better get out there and help me look for her or I'm going to put out your eyes with my wand!"

"All right, all right," yelped Sirius, dodging Emily's hand and making his way out of the Three Broomsticks.

"You too!" said Emily, whipping around and turning to James, Remus, and Peter. They mumbled something and following submissively, apparently just as terrified of Emily's rage as Sirius was. Making their way into the night, they looked around, unable to find Cassie. There was an hour until they returned to Hogwarts and she still was nowhere in sight.

**.x.X.x.**

Cassie's legs begin to feel sore. The sky was almost completely dark, and the only light came from the streetlamps and inside of shops. She was not quite sure where she was until she caught the distinct aroma of chocolate, and realized she was outside of Honeydukes. Ducking inside, she noticed that barely any students were around. _It must be almost time to leave,_ she thought. There was only one person working at the register, a young girl barely out of Hogwarts who looked up as the bells tinkled on the door as Cassie entered.

""Lo," said the girl in a bored tone, "Can I help you with anything?"

Cassie shook her head, turning to examine the boxes of mint chocolate. Finally, now that she was almost alone, she let the weight of what had happened fill her. So Sirius Black had gone out with Scarlet. It shouldn't have hurt her, she knew, but deep down inside she did feel something for Sirius. There…it was out, she had admitted it to herself. Now if it was only that easy to admit it to Sirius Black. But she knew he had so many girls after him, the only reason he noticed her was because she ignored him first.

But now her only chance had been thrown away, and she had nobody else to blame but herself. She wasn't going to cry, though. That would only make things worse. Actually being able to be alone and think things through make her feel much more relaxed. She heard the shuffling of footsteps behind her and watched as the girl behind the counter left to the to backroom.

Cassie walked amongst the shelves for a while, deciding that she should probably head back and find Emily. Of course, when she returned, she would have to hear Scarlet talking incessantly about her wonderful date with Sirius, but she was resolved not to let if affect her.

The bells on the door tinkled again, and Cassie turned to find Lucius, Crabbe, and a Slytherin with dark hair, whose name she did not know, entering the shop. Lucius was out for the kill, that much was apparent. His grey eyes swept the shop haughtily. Cassie backed away slowly, hoping they would not see her and leave.

Lucius' eyes lit up as he caught sigh of Cassie. She tried to duck behind a shelf, but he strode toward her.

"Hello, little Ravenclaw," he said, Crabbe and the other boy falling in behind him. "I see you got your nose out of that book finally. Did you glasses come off with them?" he asked, commenting on the absence of Cassie's glasses, "or are you just trying to look pretty?" He laughed. "It's a pity Black did not notice."

"Get out now," said Cassie in a low voice, realizing she was trapped. She looked around for help, but the girl who worked at the shop was in the back and out of sight.

Lucius reached forward and ran a cold hand down her cheek, making her shiver and draw back in disgust. "Of course, your efforts would not have to be totally wasted, little Ravenclaw."

"Get out or I'll scream!" said Cassie in a panicked voice, surprised at the firmness in her tone.

Lucius waved his wand at Cassie once. "Will you now?" he said. She tried to protest, but realized he had just silenced her. She backed away, her feet suddenly finding not the floor under her, but steps. Tripping backwards, she behind her, her hands hitting a soft dirt floor. She realized she had just fallen into the cellar. Before she could stand up, Lucius reached forward and shut the door over her. Before she was consumed by total darkness, she heard his voice. "Bye, bye, Beckett." Then there was laughter and a heavy object slid over the trap door, trapping Cassie.

**.x.X.x.**

"Come on, Emily," whined Sirius, proceeding Emily down the darkening streets of Hogsmeade, "maybe she decided to head back to Hogwarts."

"This is your fault," said Emily angrily. "Now, we are going to check in Honeydukes and if she isn't there then this wand is going in your eye," she said, jabbing her wand at Sirius for emphasis. James and Remus looked at each other in alarm, but also amusement. There were few people in all of Hogwarts who could command Sirius Black. They had to hold Emily Everett in some respect.

Suddenly Lucius and his friends emerged from Honeydukes, snickering to themselves. As they saw the five students, they shot them spiteful looks but seemed to be in a hurry to leave, not saying anything. Sirius looked at them suspiciously. What exactly could three Slytherins be up to in a candy shop?

The four marauders trudged into Honeydukes with Emily behind them, her wand at the ready. Glancing around, Sirius black pronouncing moodily that Cassie was nowhere to be seen. Emily marched up to him, holding her wand out.

"I hope you liked your vision, Sirius!" she said.

"Honestly," Sirius yelped, backing away. Suddenly he froze. "Bloody hell," he said, gaping at the floor. "Something is shaking underneath me. Like someone is pounding."

"Move," commanded Emily. She looked down at the floor. "Someone is underneath there!" she exclaimed. "Help me move this display," she said, beginning to try to pick up the shelf full of sugar quills but failing. "Come on, Potter. Use those Quidditch muscles you're so proud of." She snapped her fingers impatiently, looking quite annoyed.

James shot her a look but lifted the display along with Sirius. Sirius bent down and opened the trap door, his eyebrows going up as he saw who was underneath it. Cassie stood there, her hands frozen mid-pound, staring at Sirius. Emily shoved him out of the way, leaping down and hugging Cassie.

"What happened to you?" she exclaimed, horrified. "Did Lucius lock you down here?"

Cassie nodded, climbing up the steps shakily. It was obvious she was quite spooked by what had just happened. Emily wrapped her arm around her. "Remus!" she exclaimed, "It was Lucius and his friends who did this! You'll report them to a teacher?" she asked.

Remus nodded. "I'm very sorry, Cassandra. Are you all right?"

Cassie nodded once again, not wanting to talk even if she was able. She felt quite embarrassed now that her relief had passed.

Suddenly Sirius came forward. "Um, can I talk to you privately, Becke- Cassie?"

Emily nodded for Cassie, shoving her forward before Cassie had time to think. She walked with Sirius to a corner. He had a very repentant look on his face, unusual for Sirius Black.

"Look, Cassie," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "I'm sorry about the whole thing with Scarlet. I shouldn't have done that. I just knew that you would be forced to hear about it for days since you stayed in the same room with Scarlet. I was angry at you."

Cassie just stared at him, wishing she could say something. She opened her mouth to reply, to say she was sorry, but remembered that the silencing charm was still in effect. So she nodded.

"Yes?" said Sirius in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Cassie gave Sirius a pained look, trying to communicate to him that she could not speak, but he seemed to think she was still upset with him.

"Look," he said angrily, "I'm just trying to apologize. Give a bloke a chance, all right?"

Cassie's eyes widened. She was not quite sure how to make Sirius Black understand.

"Fine," said Sirius furiously. "You know what, Beckett, I shouldn't have tried in the first place. You're ridiculous. Whatever grudge you have against me…whatever problems you have…I don't care anymore. At first I thought it was cute. I gave you your chance a long time ago. Now I don't care anymore. I'll see you around," he said, shoving the door open and disappearing into the night.

Emily looked after him, glancing at James and Remus, who looked equally puzzled. "What's wrong with him?" Emily said, crossing her arms. "Everything all right, Cassie?"

Cassie pointed to her wand to her mouth, trying her hardest to perform a nonverbal spell to counter Lucius'. At the third try, she felt words return to her mouth, and she pushed the door open, flying into the night after Sirius.

"Wait!" she called, but it was too late. Far too late.


	5. Of Slytherins and Scandals

**A/N:** I hope you like this chapter. I'm so sorry it took forever to get it up! I lost my memory stick and I thought my stories were lost for good. HOWEVER, I found it. So...now you get to read chapter five. Please tell me what you think of it. I decided it was time for a new character to come into the story...and I've always had a thing for evil Slytherins. So...hurry, and enjoy.

**.::Chapter 5 -- Of Slytherins and Scandals::.**

Cassie made her way to the Ravenclaw common room alone after the incident with Sirius Black, preferring the peace and quite rather than the company of her friends and the other three marauders. Instead of crying, like she normally would have, her eyes were dry with frustration. Her heart throbbed with an unpleasant empty feeling. It was the pain of missing something terribly. You never knew what it was like to have had the thing you wanted, yet you still felt its absence strongly.

Entering the now-dark common room, which was thankfully quiet, considering that most of the students who had traveled to Hogsmeade had not returned yet, Cassie sat down in an empty chair at the fireplace, staring at the flames with a empty face. She did not feel like rethinking the events of the previous night, yet they replayed over and over again in her mind. She kept thinking of all the things she could have done to have changed what had happened, but the end she decided the only way to fix things was to approach Sirius Black and explain things to him – this is, if he would only listen.

The hair on the back of Cassie's neck stood up, and she knew somehow that she was not the only person in the room. Whirling around, she caught sight of another student staring back at her. For the moment, all she could see were the student's dark eyes flickering back at her in the light of the dying fire. Standing up quickly and approaching, she saw that it was a dark-haired boy, smartly dressed in Slytherin robes. His hair was not long, but combed back neatly in a way that complimented his dark eyes – eyes so dark that she could barely tell the pupil from the iris. His lips were raised in a half-smirk, obviously amused at her surprise, and his arms were crossed lazily over his chest.

"Excuse me," Cassie spoke up, the realization that this person was a Slytherin who was in fact standing in the _Ravenclaw_ common room finally hitting her, "what are you doing here?"

"Standing, of course," came his rich, smooth voice, carelessness with a touch of haughtiness lacing his tone, "Don't you do it?" He raised an eyebrow waiting for her reply.

"But you're in the wrong common room," said Cassie incredulously, surprised at the boy's obvious nonchalance. "This is the Ravenclaw common room."

"I know," replied the boy simply, his expression daring her to continue questioning him.

Cassie was surprised at her boldness, but she was quite annoyed at this point. "You're not allowed in here, you know," she replied, crossing her arms as well.

"Oh?" said the boy lightly. "Well, if that's the case, they should have made it harder to enter. The question I was asked was absurdly easy."

"Which was?" questioned Cassie against her better instincts, her interest piqued.

"Something about the weight of a pound of hippogriff feathers and a pound of gold," he replied. "Any fool could answer correctly. And you call yourselves Ravenclaws," he said, tutting at the end of the sentence in a way that made Cassie's hair stand up on end with annoyance.

"In any case," snapped Cassie, "you're not allowed in here. You need to leave, immediately."

"Quite the bossy one, aren't we?" said the boy with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Leave," repeated Cassie, her fingertips itching to pull her wand out of the front pocket of pants.

"My, my," laughed the boy condescendingly, "from the way you've been acting around Black, I've gathered that you were rather shy. I suppose I was incorrect after all."

"I suppose you were," replied Cassie, this time actually pulling out her wand. "Out. Now. Or I'm reporting you to a teacher."

The boy stepped forward out of the shadows, confidence etched on his features and a complete disregard for Cassie's wand apparent in his eyes. She shuffled backwards a few steps as he approached, wrapping his fingers around her wand and pointing it at the ground. She was too shocked to try to resist. His eyes seemed to burn through hers, his gaze making her shiver.

"Will you now?" he taunted her, his lip curling.

All of a sudden, the common room door slid open and Emily walked in, straightening her hair as she did. Her eyes widened at the sight of Cassie and the Slytherin boy face-to-face. Before she could say anything, the boy lifted his in a snide smile at Cassie, then turned his back to her, walking out of the common room slowly. As he passed Emily, she glanced at his robes in confusion, turning to Cassie for an answer.

"Why was Hales in here?" she said, staring after him at the closed common room door.

"Hales?" was all Cassie could ask, still slightly shaken by what had just taken place. Her hands were trembling as she placed her wand back into her pocket.

"Yes, Jackson Hales," Emily replied impatiently. "Seventh-year Slytherin? Friend of Malfoy's? Doesn't ring any bells?"

"I've never met him before," said Cassie softly.

"He's got quite a reputation, I'm surprised you've never heard of him," replied Emily, pursing her lips in surprise. "Gets himself in quite a bit of trouble, yet never enough to get expelled. Almost like the marauders, except the tricks he and his friends play are much darker. Unlike the marauders who generally don't try to get people hurt, except for Snape of course, he purposely goes out to wound people. Generally not a nice to bloke to be around, unless you've got something he wants."

"And what does he want?" said Cassie, not sure she wanted to know.

"Whatever he fancies at the time," said Emily with a shrug. "And right now, I think he fancies you."

"You're being ridiculous!'" exclaimed Cassie incredulously. "He couldn't have made it more obvious that he thought I was a ridiculous little Ravenclaw." She could not believe that Emily was actually claiming that Jackson Hales fancied her, especially if he was a seventh-year Slytherin with a bad reputation.

"Oh, but he does," said Emily simply. "Otherwise he wouldn't have come in here after you."

"Honestly, Emily," said Cassie, "of all the things to say." She turned and headed up the steps toward the girls dormitory. Emily followed at her heels, saying nothing, but Cassie could almost feel her skepticism filling the room.

She slipped into bed as soon as possible, and Emily opted to stay up and read a book until Scarlet came back. Cassie was almost asleep with the sound of giggling filled the room. Scarlet and their roommate, Elle, entered, their shopping bags crinkling loudly. Cassie opened one eye and peeking through the curtains of her bed, watching as Elle, brushed her auburn hair back. She and Scarlet were almost always around each other, laughing about something or another.

"He was absolutely gorgeous," said Elle loudly, tittering obnoxiously in her annoying way. "You two should go out," she added sarcastically.

"Except we already have," giggled Scarlet. It was obvious she had had one butterbeer too many.

"Honestly, Scarlet, if_ you_ weren't so gorgeous, I'd steal him from you," replied Elle, throwing on her bedclothes and collapsing into bed. She looked to her left and noticed Emily, her eyebrows raised over the book she was reading. "Hello, Everett," she said, a bit coldly. "You got back early."

"Mmhmm," said Emily, not looking up from her book.

"What about Beckett? She asleep?"

"Yes," said Emily, flipping to another page.

"Pity," said Scarlet, speaking up from where she was lying in the bed. "I could have told her all about my date with Sirius Black."

"Oh, I'm sure that went well," quipped Emily sarcastically, obviously resisting a smirk with difficultly.

"Excuse me?" Scarlet spoke up. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I don't know," said Emily, finally looking up from her book with a roll of her eyes, "it's just I could have sworn I saw him coming from your little date looking like he was going to be sick."

For a moment, Scarlet looked as if she was about to whip out her wand and hex Emily. Then she turned over, snapping at Elle. "Can you please blow out the candles already? How am I supposed to sleep with all this light?"

Elle carried out her orders obediently, if not with a little worry, and Emily placed her book by the bed and drew the curtains. Scarlet did the same, along with Elle. Cassie pulled the covers tightly up to her chin, thoughts of Jackson Hales filling her head. She still could not figure out why he had acted so mysteriously. There must have been a reason he was in the Ravenclaw common room, and she could have sworn nobody was in the room when she had entered. He must have followed her, entering silently.

So Emily said he was nearly always involved in some sort of wrong-doing. He must be clever along with mischievous if he was able to answer a question to get into the Ravenclaw, since listening into her would have never done any good. There was always a new question each time.

She rolled over, wondering and if she would see him again. Somehow, despite the condemning words Emily had expressed toward him, she almost felt complimented that he would follow her somewhere just to talk to her. A bloke had never done that before. Generally, the entire male gender did not know she existed, except when they wanted to tease her. She absurdly wished that somehow, sometime, she would see Jackson Hales again.

**.x.X.x.**

"So you aren't the least bit miffed?" asked James skeptically the next day before class, his elbows resting on his open History of Magic textbook. "What did happen with you and Beckett."

"Nothing worth sharing," said Sirius with a shrug, taking his quill and filling in a blank space in the textbook. He smiled endearingly at Professor Binns as he floated by. Professor Binns did not seem to take notice, mumbling something to himself in a bored manner as he moved to the next student.

"Nothing worth sharing, he says," laughed James, turning to Remus with a grin on his face.

Remus looked up from his book in confusion, having not quite followed the conversation in his concentration on the chapter on goblin wars. "Pardon?"

"We were just discussing how Everett seems a bit…disturbed in the head," invented Sirius hastily, not wanting to continue the subject on Cassie.

James snickered, but did not press the subject. "Right you are, mate," he said. "I was a bit worried for your eyesight last night. Everett looked a bit dangerous with that wand."

Sirius scowled, and Remus gave a cough that might have been a laugh.

"At least I'm not the one she fancies," shot Sirius, turning to Remus.

Remus colored slightly. "Well, yes," he muttered, "maybe Emily is a bit…excitable at times, but she's not all that terrible. And it's her right to…fancy…me if she wants to," he said, turning a deeper shade of scarlet.

"I like her friend, Scarlet," said Peter.

Sirius glanced over and found Peter staring dreamily in Scarlet's direction. She was sitting with her friend Elle and two other Hufflepuff girls at a table, her long golden hair flowing down her back and her chin in her hand. Sirius' gaze shifted over to Cassie, bent studiously over her work. He could not help but think how adorable her face looked in profile. Her tiny, delicate nose was turned up almost imperceptibly, and her lips were pursed in thought. He noticed, now that she was not wearing her glasses, how long her eyelashes were, curled lightly and bringing out her golden-brown eyes. She was lovely in an entirely different, effortless way that for a moment took Sirius' breath away. She was pleasant-looking and unassuming at a glace, but striking when one took time to observe.

This time he did not feel disgust or embarrassment at watching her, only a strange resolve that he must overcome this feeling he was experiencing. Cassie, for whatever reason she had, had made it more than clear that she was not going to talk to Sirius Black, no matter what tactics he tried. And this time, he knew he was going to have to give up and let her go. If he only knew that what he thought he should do was the opposite of what she wanted.

**.x.X.x.**

Cassie shifted her books to another arm, dodging students and heading to her potions class. Emily had lagged behind, finishing up a bit of homework that was due, so Cassie was on her own. The halls were almost empty, most students having disappeared into their various classrooms. There was only the laughter of a few girls a few hallways away. The potions classroom was around the corner, and Cassie sped up her pace. As she turned the corner, she nearly ran into a tall boy leaning lazily against the wall.

"Cassandra Beckett," Jackson Hales greeted her, the side of his mouth curling into a smile. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Jackson Hales," Cassie greeted, trying to make her way past him. "What are you doing here?"

"So I don't have permission to be here, either?" a glint in his eyes. Cassie could not help but notice when his eyes glinted, they shone in a darker, more mysterious light than the mischievous sparkle in Sirius' eyes.

"I can't control whether you are here or not," admitted Cassie, still making her way to the potions classroom.

"I say," said Jackson, standing up and walking alongside of her, "you've probably never broken a rule in your life, have you, little Ravenclaw?"

Cassie tensed as he used the same words Lucius had always used right before he hexed her and did not answer.

"I didn't think so," continued Jackson. "Don't you ever feel the overwhelming urge to break just one rule?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No," said Cassie, trying to quicken her pace.

"Maybe that's because you've never tried," commented Jackson. He reached out and grabbed Cassie's arm, turning her toward him. "It's fun, you know."

"I don't know, I've never tried," said Cassie, trying to pull away.

Jackson did not let go. "You should start simple. Maybe breaking out of the castle after hours would do for a start. Meet me at the lake at eleven o'clock tonight, then. Try it. You'll like it." And as if the matter was settled, he turned and headed back the other way toward his class.

"I…" Cassie began, but Jackson had already disappeared.

She headed into class, saving a seat for Emily who dashed in at the last minute. Class started almost immediately, and Cassie nearly worked up the courage to tell Emily what had happened, but backed down at the last minute. She still did not know if she was going to meet Jackson. She was a bit indignant that Jackson expected her to be there without asking her first, but the longer time went on, the more she felt inclined to do so. She had never broken a rule before. Perhaps she was a bit of a prude. Almost every student had at least broken a rule or two. Maybe she should too.

When class was over, Cassie headed to the lake with Emily. The day was unusually hot for autumn, and most of the girls were sitting by the lake, chattering. The boys were splashing each other to cool off, and Cassie glanced over to see James ruffling up his hair at the sight of Lily Evans approaching. Finally she glanced over at Emily, who had been silent for quite a while, and made her mind to tell her what had happened and what she planned to do. She shifted uncomfortable, kicking her stocking-less feet in the water slightly, making little ripples appear.

"You're _what_?" said Emily, aghast. Her stockings were off and her feet were in the lake as well.

"Meeting Jackson tonight at the lake," repeated Cassie, blushing a bit at Emily's shock. "Why? You've broken the rules before."

"But not with _Jackson Hales_," hissed Cassie so Scarlet and Elle, who were sitting a few feet away, would not hear. "Of all the people to sneak out of school with!"

"Honestly, he won't bite," said Cassie, crossing her arms. "He's just another student."

Emily was silent, raising an eyebrow at Cassie.

"Honestly!" Cassie exclaimed, blushing even more.

"Take my advice," said Emily seriously, "don't do it."

Cassie stared at her for several seconds, aghast. Emily was the one who had always encouraged Cassie to come out of her shell, but now all she seemed almost worried that Cassie was going to have a bit of fun for once. "You know what?" said Cassie, suddenly angry, "I need to go." She pulled on her stockings over her wet feet and threw on her shoes, standing up and turning to go.

"Cassie!" exclaimed Emily, leaping up from the lake with a splash and scattering water on several girls, who looked quite put-out. "Would you wait a moment?"

But Cassie was already long gone.

**.x.X.x.**

"A knut if you can hex that first year without him seeing you," whispered James, lounging idly in a armchair near the fire. He, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had come to the Gryffindor common room after classes, spending time talking and sending hexes toward students they disliked instead of studying to prepare for the O.W.L.s like their teachers had urged them to do. All except for Remus, of course, who was currently buried in a Defense Against the Dark Arts book.

"A knut?" hissed Sirius, sliding out his wand. "Come on, James, don't be so cheap. What about a sickle?" He twirled his wand around in his hand in a bored manner, watching the blonde, pug-nosed first year walk haughtily through the door as the portrait swung open.

"Fine, a sickle," agreed James with a roll of his eyes. "Just hurry, he's getting closer."

"All in good time, Prongs," drawled Sirius, sounding very much like Lucius Malfoy. Peter snickered, and Remus brought the book he was reading just a little lower to see what was happening.

The first year came closer, doing some sort of pirouette, obviously unaware that anyone else was in the common room. James looked like he was about to choke with laughter, but stayed quiet. He nudged Sirius, who still was watching the first year lazily. The boy had almost passed them by quickly when Sirius muttered a spell under his breath. The first year, mid-pirouette, clasped his hands to his backside as if he had been burned, letting out a yelp and falling flat on his face.

The first year got up, furious, and glared at the four marauders, marching toward the common room door with a little "humph", trying to retain what little dignity was left to him. As the portrait swung open, Sirius caught sight of a blonde girl standing outside, signaling to them. He recognized her as Emily Everett.

"Hide!" he yelped, and was about to retreat to the boys dormitory, when he realized Emily was not a Gryffindor and could not come inside. Remus glanced up, his eyebrows rising slightly, and James and Peter filched a bit.

Emily kept leaping up and down wildly, her hands flailing. "I need you help! Cassie's-"

The portrait swung shut, cutting off whatever else Emily had to say. Sirius glanced at the others, his interest piqued but still slightly frightened of Emily. "Should we go out there?" he said.

"If you want your bloody head blown off by her," hissed James, shaking his head. Peter bit his nails nervously.

"Come on," Sirius sighed, standing up and shaking his hair for his eyes. "Otherwise we'll pay for it later. We can't hide in here forever, after all." The others groaned, standing up reluctantly and heading out the door. As the portrait swung open, they saw Emily, who was still leaping up and down, her face bright red.

"—AND IF YOU BLOODY DON'T GET OUT HERE, I SWEAR I'LL HAVE YOUR HEADS! ALL OF…oh, hello, Remus." She said, blushing brightly and gasping for breath.

"Hello to you too, Everett," said Sirius sulkily.

"What are you going on about?" asked James, keeping his distance along with Peter.

"I need your help," said Emily, pushing her hair behind her ears. "I think Cassie's in trouble. Or at least, she's going to be?"

"What?" said Sirius, slightly worried in spite of himself.

"It's that git Slytherin. Hales? Jackson Hales? You know him."

"Has he been bothering Cassandra?" said Remus, finally speaking up. "Because you should get a teacher in that case. I can only do so much."

"No, it's worse," Emily said, batting her eyelashes just a bit for Remus. James glanced at Sirius but did not comment. "Hales asked Cassie to meet her at the lake tonight, and she's going to go."

"She'll bloody talk to bloody _Hales_ but she won't bloody say one bloody word to me?" yelped Sirius, suddenly angry. "Bloody hell!"

"You think you've said bloody enough?" James said with a raised eyebrow.

"Who cares!" exclaimed Emily, and the boys' mouths snapped shut. "I think Cassie's in trouble. Everyone knows what a reputation Hales has!"

"Why don't you tell a teacher then? Why are we supposed to care?" said James rather rudely, turning to go.

"I'm not going to get my own friend into trouble!" said Emily, aghast. "I thought maybe you would have some sort of plan to help me out. You lot are good at that, at least…but if you obviously aren't clever enough, I mean, I understand. You are blokes. It takes a girl's mind, anyhow." She turned to go, pretending that she did not care.

"Wait!' said James and Sirius at once, determined to prove how much superior their mind was to that of a girl. "I think we might be able to help," said Sirius, his eyes suddenly gleaming. He glanced at James, assuming his pleading puppy-dog look.

"No," said James, shaking his head at once. "We are not using that."

"Please?" whimpered Sirius, sticking out his bottom lip for effect.

"No! Absolutely not! Never! Ever. Not even in your dreams. No. No. NO!"

Sirius' eyes widened, the grey orbs as innocent as could be.

"Oh, bloody hell. Fine!"

Several hours later, Emily was outside the castle, sandwiched between Sirius and Remus. It was not too bad of situation, she thought happily, especially her face being inches away from Remus' own. "I don't know how you talked James into letting him use your invisibility cloak, but this is brilliant!" she whispered, pulling the cloth closer to her. Sirius grinned.

The moon shone down brightly, nearly a full moon. Remus glanced up nervous at it, but knew better than to be worried just yet. The three tiptoed behind a tree where they had a decent view of the lake. James and Peter had opted to stay behind, but Emily had insisted that Remus come along because he was a prefect, and Sirius come along, because in her words, they needed a "nice, strapping young bloke" in case something went wrong. It was almost eleven o'clock as they peered through the leaves of the tree.

Suddenly a figure strode forward. By its height and build the three could tell that it was Jackson Hales. He crossed his arms over his chest, glancing around haughtily. Somehow, Sirius felt a bit of anger rise up inside his chest. He had a sudden and irrepressible urge to leap forward and hex Jackson into jelly.

Another figure passed by the tree, making the three shift over quickly. Emily tripped a bit, her cheek hitting Remus'. They both reddened, looking the other way quickly. The figure, a tall but slight girl, was no other than Cassie. Sirius could not help but notice how lovely she looked, something that had been happening to him more than he thought was healthy. She had obviously put a lot of effort into her appearance. Her glasses were off, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and Sirius could even detent a hint of makeup on her cheeks.

"Cassandra Beckett," said Jackson, his eyes flicking over Cassie quickly, making Sirius' fingers itch for his wand. "So you showed after all. Breaking the rules as fun as I said, then?"

"I shouldn't be out here," said Cassie with a tinge of remorse in her voice.

"Yet you showed up anyway," commented Jackson, his dark eyes gleaming. "Funny how things work out." He took a drink from a bottle of firewhisky he was holding, and then held it out to Cassie. Sirius could tell he was slightly drunk.

Cassie shifted uncomfortably. "No, thank you."

Jackson moved closer almost imperceptibly, but Sirius could detect it. Obviously, so could Cassie. "Have some fun," drawled Jackson, taking another long drink from the bottle.

Cassie shook her head, backing away.

"Let's just get the point, little Ravenclaw," Jackson strode forward very obviously this time, slurring his words slightly. "You interest me," he reached out and ran his fingers down Cassie's arm. She flinched and shifted back a little. "You never talk to anyone except that Everett girl. But you'll talk to me, won't you?"

Cassie stood motionless like a statue, not saying anything. Sirius knew she could tell that things had just gone terribly wrong. Perhaps she thought she would get to have a bit of fun with Jackson, and that his intentions were at least somewhat honorable. Sirius nearly laughed. She should have known. He was a Slytherin.

Jackson brushed a piece of hair from Cassie's face, and she turned away. "I…I need to get back," she said in a trapped voice. Sirius itched to rush forward and pummel Hales to the ground, but Remus reached out a hand and held him back. Emily was glancing back and forth between the two boys, wondering when they were going to do something.

"Come on, Beckett," said Jackson, more urgently now. "Have a little fun." Then he reached forward and kissed her roughly, wrapping his arms possessively around her. Cassie struggled against his grasp, but he refused to let go.

"Stop it!" Cassie nearly whimpered, wriggling frantically. She nearly got loose, but Jackson grabbed her hand, throwing her to the ground and trapping her there, still kissing her smotheringly. "Stop it!" Cassie screamed.

Sirius could not wait any longer. He leapt forward, throwing off the invisibility cloak. Anger coursed through him wildly. Remus did not hold him back this time, and Emily clutched Remus' hand tightly, staring on in horror.

Sirius yanked Jackson to his feet. "Get away from her, Hales!" he said, throwing back a fist and punching Jackson as hard as he could before he could think. Cassie let out another scream and Jackson fell backward, a hand to his mouth. He recovered quickly, though, whipping out his wand and pointing it at Sirius. Sirius reached for his, but knew there was little time.

"Don't you dare," said Remus from behind the tree. Emily was standing behind him, holding the invisibility cloak tightly. "Unless you want to get expelled from this school, I seriously recommend you put your wand away immediately."

Jackson, blood trickling from his mouth, turned and looked at Remus with hateful eyes, but slowly pocketing his wand. He looked as if he was barely able to control himself, but the risk of expulsion was too much for him. "This isn't over, Black. I'll see you again, when your little prefect friend isn't here to help you." He said before turning and storming back to the castle. The four watched him go, Cassie still on the ground.

Sirius held a hand to help her up. "All right, Cassie?" For a moment she just stared at him, then she took his hand, flinging her arms around him.

"I'm sorry, Sirius!" she cried. "I'm so sorry."

It took Sirius several seconds to register two things. One, that Cassandra Beckett had just flung her arms around him and was now sobbing into his neck, and two, that she had actually spoken to him. She had said six words to him total, and meant them sincerely and sweetly. Slowly he wrapped his arms around her, patting her back awkwardly. Remus and Emily stood by, watching. Suddenly Emily realized that her hand was still clutching Remus' arm. She looked at them and they both blushed, pulling away from each other quickly.

Finally, Cassie, seeming a bit embarrassed with herself, let go, wiping her eyes with a hand.

"Are you all right, Cassie?" said Emily, giving her friend a hug. "Sorry we were watching, but I just didn't trust Hales."

"It's all right," said Cassie, her eyes still watering. "You were right. I should have listened. And thank you, Remus." She said, smiling at the boy kindly. He smiled back, giving her a look that said "anytime". Finally Cassie turned and stared at Sirius, giving a small sniffle.

"You all right now?" he mumbled, still feeling a bit awkward. His dark hair hung a little bit below his eyes, but Cassie could still see the caring grey eyes peeking out from underneath.

"Yeah," said Cassie slowly, "yeah, thanks to you."

"Well," said Sirius, "now that we're on speaking terms, anytime." His gray eyes sparkled.

"Come on," said Remus, "let's get back.

"This will be one to tell to James and Peter," commented Sirius, grinning. "Maybe they'll even pass it down to their great-grandchildren. I can imagine you, Uncle Remmy, sitting in a rocking chair, a pipe in your mouth, telling about twenty wide-eyed children the story of ol' Sirius and how he defeated the evil Slytherin in battle."

"You fought him like a Muggle," said Remus wryly. "Not exactly one for the storybooks."

"Still," said Sirius, not fazed in the least, "I can imagine it."

"I'm sure you can," muttered Remus, shaking his head. "I'm sure you can."


	6. Of Matches and Mistakes

**A/N: **Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up! With the holidays it's been busy, and I almost forgot about this story. However, I did not -- so enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think:**

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**.::Chapter 6 – Of Matches and Mistakes::. **

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"Do you think I've used enough blue?" asked Emily from the mirror, dabbing on a bit more blue eyeshadow. Her eyes were lined with silver eyeliner, and her eyes surrounded by deep cobalt eyeshadow. She was swathed with a navy and silver scarf, and she wore her robes with the Ravenclaw crest proudly. She had even magically bewitched her hair to turn a light shade of azure, although to Cassie, it looked more like she had been swimming too much in a chlorine-filled pool, but she did not say anything.

"I think you have," Cassie said wryly, adjusting the lone blue object on her personage, an indigo headband. "It's not that important, you know. Ravenclaw's never had the best team. I've known that, and I've rarely even watch Quidditch."

"It's the first match of the season!" exclaimed Emily, shaking her head. "And besides, Ravenclaw has gotten a lot better this year!" She put her wand to her eyes, muttering something under her breath. When she opened her eyes, her normally gray eyes were a brilliant and startling shade of cerulean, with streaks of silver in between.

"You're obsessed," muttered Cassie, but did not say anything more. Quidditch matches were very important to Emily, especially since her older brother, Parker, had played as a beater on Ravenclaw's team when he had attended Hogwarts. Although he had finished his seventh year two years ago, Emily still was an avid Quidditch fan. Cassie had never seen the point of watching a dozen students flying around six hoops and hitting balls with bats, but most of the school found it very important, so she had always come along to watch.

Emily and Cassie made their way to the Quidditch pitch, running down the stairs past other students until they found a decent seat in the stands. The weather was beautiful, the wind blowing Cassie's hair gently, and the sun beating down warmly upon their heads. Cassie took a seat. Suddenly, Emily elbowed her in the ribs, glancing over to the left. There stood Scarlet, wearing a short blue skirt and skimpy silver hose, watching the match with her arms crossed. Cassie was even more surprised to see Jackson Hales standing there with her, his arm draped lazily around her shoulder. His dark eyes were glancing around, fox-like, until he saw Cassie. She met his glance, feeling his eyes burn through her. She looked away quickly.

"What's she doing here with him?" said Emily, disgusted. "Well, at least they'll be good for each other. They live on pure spite alone."

Cassie turned back to Emily, wanting the change the subject. "Who is Ravenclaw playing?" she asked.

"Gryffindor," Emily said regretfully. "It was hard to choose. I mean, I could cheer for Remus' team, but then I would be a traitor to my own house."

"He doesn't even play on the team, Emily," laughed Cassie, suddenly remembering that Sirius was in Gryffindor as well. Maybe she should have worn something red or yellow. After all, they were friends now, to Emily's delight. The more time she got to spend around Remus, the happier she seemed to be. And now that all four of them were on speaking terms, Cassie's time at Hogwarts had improved vastly. Scarlet was aghast that Sirius Black avoided her in the hallways but greeted Cassie openly, something which Cassie hated to admit thrilled her entirely.

"Oi, move!" came a bark of a voice from a few seats down. Cassie turned and saw Sirius pushing through the crowd, Remus and Peter behind him. His hair was ruffled up even more than James' because of the wind, and a Gryffindor scarf was wrapped around his neck. Remus was wearing one as well, along with Peter, who looked like a red and yellow anaconda was strangling him. Sirius grinned at the sight of Cassie, and even Remus gave Cassie a small smile. She blushed and smiled back.

"All right, Beckett? Everett?" he girls nodded.

"Come to sit with us?" asked Emily hopefully.

"Don't be daft," said Sirius, his eyes traveling over the rows of Ravenclaws. Emily's face fell. "I do have some sort of loyalty to my friend and my house. How do you think everyone in Gryffindor would feel if I sat with the blue sea monster?"

"What!?" exclaimed Emily, hitting at Sirius with the edge of her blue scarf. Sirius dodged her quickly, still remembering how frightening she could become when enraged.

Cassie subtly tried to brush some hair over her headband to hide the fact that she was wearing it.

"Come to see your girlfriend?" came a snide voice from behind the five. Cassie turned to look and saw that Jackson Hales stood there, his arm wrapped around Scarlet's waist. Lucius stood with him, along with a few other Slytherins.

"Come to get that pretty face of yours punched in again?" said Sirius with a barking laugh. Remus looked uncomfortable, but Peter giggled loudly.

Jackson colored slightly, but kept his composure. "Proud that you fought like a Muggle, Black? I wonder what your mother would think about that? Her traitor son fighting like scum?" This time it was the Slytherins' turn to laugh.

Cassie watched at the remark hit home, and Sirius' eyes darkened. She could tell he was itching to hit him again, but he was determined not to show it.

"No more proud than the person who was beaten not by magic, but with 'Muggle fighting'," Sirius said coolly. "I wonder who scum is now."

"Better keep that mouth shut, Black, or I'll report you to a teacher," drawled Malfoy, stepping forward.

"I'm a prefect, too, Malfoy," Remus spoke up. "You'll do no such thing."

"You know, Black," Malfoy said silkily, "all I need is one little confession from you to get you expelled from this school."

"Talk for yourself, Malfoy," Sirius replied in a snarl, "you should expelled for sitting there while your mates break every rule in the castle and yet you do absolutely about it. Including Hales. And if Professor Dumbledore gets of a whiff of what he did to Cassie, I won't be the only one expelled."

"You won't say a word, Black," sneered Jackson. "You know if you say anything you'll get expulsion as well for attacking another student. I'll be seeing you around." He walked off with Scarlet, taking care to knock into Sirius as he passed. When he walked past Cassie, he let his free hand brush her arm. "Another time, little Ravenclaw," he whispered. She backed away.

The Slytherins disappeared, Scarlet along with them. Sirius and Cassie watched them go, then turned back to the match just as the Quidditch players flew onto the pitch.

"We should go," Sirius said shortly, still breathing heavily and angrily. Remus was quite irritated as well, staring after the Slytherins. "We'll see you around." The three boys walked off, heading toward the ranks of Gryffindors and out of the sea of blue and silver onlookers.

Cassie squeezed her way along with Emily toward the front so that she could see the Quidditch match that was beginning. James looked absolutely wild with excitement, zooming around on his broomstick in search of the snitch. Cassie had watched enough Quidditch games to know that, even for the Gryffindor team, find the snitch would take a bit of time.

The Quaffle was thrown up in the air, and a Ravenclaw chaser, Meghan Rodgers, snatched it up inches from a Gryffindor hands, veering sharply toward the Gryffindor goals. Cassie held her breath as she threw it in the direction of the goal, the Gryffindor seeker swinging wildly in an attempt to stop the Quaffle. He caught it by the tips of his fingers, and the Gryffindor onlookers cheered wildly.

"A nice save by Frank Holden," came the sarcastic, drawling voice of Lucius Malfoy, "Although, after Rodgers' weak performance on the Quidditch field last year, it isn't exactly a shining accomplishment." As

Meghan flew by, Cassie could see her blush slightly, her broomstick dipping a bit. The Gryffindors booed loudly, and even a few Ravenclaws chimed in. Lucius Malfoy was not exactly well-liked among any house save his own, and it came as unpleasant surprise to Cassie that he was the commentator. She wondered which team he would be rooting for, as he seemed to not like any except his own.

Perhaps he favored Ravenclaw over Gryffindor?

"…and Katie Cleland of Gryffindor steals the Quaffle from Timothy Dunlap. It seems that neither team seems to be trying to give anything but shoddy performances, making for a rather dull match."

Apparently not.

The whole stadium let loose with shouts and boos in Malfoy's direction, and a few Gryffindor boys even threw their drinks. Malfoy ignored them haughtily, listening instead to the disdainful chatter and laughter of the Slytherins.

"Why would they pick him to be commentator?" shouted Emily over the crowd, giving Malfoy a rude hand gesture. Cassie hastily pushed her hand down as McGonagall looked their direction, her tartan robes billowing in the wind.

"I don't know," Cassie yelled back, watching as Katie tossed the Quaffle to another teammate, and he zoomed quickly toward the Ravenclaw goals. "Maybe it's because he's a prefect."

"James Potter scores a goal," said Malfoy in a bored tone. "Gryffindor: ten, Ravenclaw: zero, is now the current score." Cassie half-expected him to add in a sarcastic hurray at the end, but he did not.

Meghan Rodgers zoomed past several Gryffindor chasers, dodging the beaters as well, the Quaffle in her hands. On her face was etched fierce determination, perhaps to spite Malfoy because of what he had said about her performance. With a lunge, she threw the Quaffle toward the left goal, where Frank Holden missed it by several feet. The Ravenclaw crowd roared loudly, and Emily nearly fell over screaming.

The game went on for ten more minutes, with several near scores by Gryffindor but nothing else of importance by any of the Ravenclaw players. Even Emily looked quite disappointed, but Cassie was not watching the game. Her eyes were on Sirius Black. He was sitting in the stands with Peter and Lupin, watching the game and cheering for his friend. Cassie loved the way his eyes sparkled when he was excited or mischievous. Now that he was her friend, that look always meant something interesting or possibly even exciting was about to happen, instead of that she was about to get teased. He looked nothing short of gorgeous, swathed in the Gryffindor scarf, his dark hair falling into his face as usual.

"And it seems Gregory Malloy has spotted the Snitch," came Malfoy's disappointed voice, startling Cassie through her thoughts. "Already." Cassie looked up, and indeed, there was Gregory, speeding after the snitch furiously, his right arm outstretched toward the miniscule ball. Avonlea Mitchell, the Ravenclaw seeker, was close on his tail, but before she could near to the snitch, Gregory's fingers closed triumphantly around it, and the Gryffindor crowd let out a roar.

"Well, it looks like the game is over. Gryffindor, one-hundred and sixty, and Ravenclaw, ten." As he walked away from the microphone, Cassie could hear him add sarcastically, "this should make Potter's big head even bigger. Wonderful."

Cassie threw down her scarf angrily. "I can't believe it!" she shouted, "Ravenclaw was pathetic! What kind of performance was that? It's the first match of the season. We were supposed to defeat Slytherin! Oh, why did you let me wear all this ridiculous blue?" she asked Cassie, as if it were all her fault.

Across the pitch, Cassie could see Sirius leaping up and down, cheering for James. And even from that distance, she could see his eyes sparkling and the dimples in his cheeks. Suddenly, inexplicably, she felt a strange tingling sensation in her chest. It was almost a happy feeling, but there was longing in it as well. Longing for Sirius' arms to be wrapped around her once again. She shook her head, wondering what was happening to her.

**.x.X.x.**

Cassie sat underneath a tree, her feet crossed beneath her and a quill held in her hands, poised above the long parchment that lay on her lap. She scribbled down each thought as it entered her head, her quill scratching softly as she wrote. Next to her was Emily, all the blue makeup washed off and her eyes and hair returned back to normal. She was lying on her stomach, her head in her hands, glancing around in boredom.

"Aren't we going to do something other than homework?" complained Emily, rolling over onto her back and closing her eyes. "I'm so tired of sitting here."

"We've only been here for an hour," replied Cassie, not taking her eyes from the paper. "And besides, you have homework to do as well. McGonagall isn't going to be happy if your essay is late again!" she added rather bossily.

"I know, I know," said Emily, but made no move to get up.

Suddenly Cassie heard the crunching of feet on the ground, and looked up to see Sirius Black and James Potter heading their way, changed out of their dress robes and wearing Muggle attire. Sirius Black plopped on the ground next to Cassie, a grin on his face. James leaned back against the tree, keeping his distance from Emily, who raised an eyebrow but did not say anything.

"So how are you ladies feeling today?" said James, his face lighting up. "Happy? Pleasant? Defeated? I would too, had my team been beaten by your team. However," he said, pretending to catch a snitch midair, "that did not happen."

"Sod off, Potter," said Emily with a disgusted eyeroll, throwing a leaf at him that fluttered harmlessly around his feet, "or I'll hex you so you won't be able to ride a broomstick again."

"How could you do that?" laughed James, albeit a bit nervously.

"Well, you won't be riding a broomstick if you've got a million boils on your arse, will you?" replied Emily coolly, slipping out her wand.

James took a few steps away from Emily, protecting his backside with his hands. It was quite obvious she was still a bit sore about the match. James decided it would be wise not to push her further. Emily settled down a bit, picking up another leaf and turning it over in her hands, but occasionally lifting an angry eye toward James.

"So," said Sirius, cutting through the tension with a grin on his face, "we were wondering if you two ladies were interested in helping us with a prank."

"Why would we want to get into a detention with you and Potter, Black?" snorted Emily derisively. Suddenly her facial expression changed and she perked up a bit. "But is Remus going to be there?"

"Oh, that's a horse of a different color, isn't it?" laughed Sirius, tossing his hair from his eyes. "But no, he preferred to be 'left out of it'," he sighed. "Getting less and less fun these days, Remmy is." James nodded in solemn agreement, and Emily looked rather bummed, albeit still a bit interested.

"Get the point, Black," ordered Emily irritably, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.

"The point is," said Sirius, flashing Emily a charming smile, "Jackson Hales is sneaking out of the castle tonight with another lovely lady by the name of Scarlet Edwards."

Emily mimed throwing up, and even Cassie sat up a bit with interest. How could Scarlet be so stupid? News of what had happened with Cassie had no doubt spread around the castle by now, although Jackson's version was probably quite different from the actual truth.

"So you want revenge?" concluded Emily, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius looked very much like the wind had just been taken out of his sails. "Yes, I was getting to that," he said. "Hales needs to have his pride taken down a notch. So James and I have planned something for him. Nothing complicated, just a simple jinx. Right above the staircase. Then when poor Jackson finds himself hanging from the ceiling all of a sudden, the entire school of Hogwarts will be woken up to find Hales at the top of the staircase, upside down, looking like an idiot."

"That's brilliant," said Emily, hopping up and looking enthusiastic for once about Sirius' plan. "If we can't get in into trouble, than at least we can let him get himself into trouble. And if he can't see us, then it will drive him crazy trying to figure out what happened. And maybe Scarlet will wake up and see that he is a complete, disgusting prat."

Sirius' eyes lit up, and he reached out past Cassie, giving her a clap on the back. "I like the direction of your thinking, Everett," he said enthusiastically. Cassie couldn't help but shiver at their vicinity. She could see every dimple on Sirius' cheeks as he grinned, she could see how exactly colorful and animated his eyes were for being gray. She had always thought that gray eyes were terribly dull, but Sirius' seemed to have life to them, a something that drew her in, keeping her there. Suddenly she looked away quickly, realizing she had been staring again. Sirius pulled back, seeming oblivious of the feelings that were running through Cassie.

"Thank you very much," said Emily warmly, sitting up, "but don't get too comfortable. Someone needs to keep you blokes in line," she said sternly, but Cassie could tell she was still very much amused. "Now, how exactly do we come into this plan?" said Emily with interest. "I know you wouldn't have told us all this unless you needed us."

"What?" said Sirius in a wounded manner, as if he had been pierced in the heart, "now that we are friends and all, don't you think I might feel like sharing my latest brilliant ideas with you lovely ladies?"

"Rubbish, Black," said Emily skeptically. "Stop lying or I'm leaving."

"All right," said Sirius. "Since you share a room with Scarlet and all, and since we don't exactly know where Hales is going to be until he leaves the castle, we thought you might be able to keep an eye on Scarlet, since she's meeting him."

"Aha!" said Emily triumphantly, "I knew it!"

"Please, feel free to rub it in," James spoke up sullenly, crossing his arms.

"We'd be happy to help, wouldn't we, Cassie?" Emily said, ignoring James.

Cassie thought it over for a few seconds. She wasn't accustomed to playing pranks, having usually been the target of many pranks at Hogwarts. She did secretly wish fro revenge on Hales for what he had done, but when it came down to carrying it out, she wasn't so sure she could do it.

"C'mon, Cassie," pleaded Sirius, his eyes growing wide in his puppy-dog pleading look. "Help us out?"

"All right," said Cassie with a sigh. "As long as you promise no one will get hurt."

"Just Hale's pride, is all, I promise," said Sirius. "And maybe his face," he added as an afterthought.

"Black!" hissed Emily dangerously.

"Joking, joking," said Sirius quickly, casting a worried glance in Emily's direction.

**.x.X.x.**

The night came too quickly for Cassie, as apprehensive as she was. Scarlet tossed and turned in her bed, apparently waiting for everyone else to fall asleep. Cassie stayed awake by staring out the window, watching the moon move slowly across the black sky. Finally, she heard a rustle of bedsheets as Scarlet slipped from bed, making her way out of the 5th year dormitory and down the staircase.

"Get up, get up!" came Emily's hissing voice, "and don't wake up Elle."

Cassie crawled from bed, her jeans feeling rather crumpled from the hour she had spent awake, lying in the clothes, waiting to get up. She slipped out of bed, barely able to see anything in the darkness, and followed Emily down the staircase. A thrill of excitement passed through her chest as she made her way down the unlit staircase with only Emily to guide her and the soft but steady steps of Scarlet.

It seemed that Scarlet walked on forever, Emily and Cassie following close behind. They traveled down more staircases than Cassie could count, with only an occasional light from a candle to guide them. Cassie had been this way before, but she only remembered it vaguely. Emily had apparently broken out of the castle enough times to know the way much more clearly than Cassie.

"I'm going to go get James and Sirius," whispered Emily as they reached one floor above the ground floor. "This is where they are supposed to meet." Cassie nodded and watched Emily disappear into the deep darkness, trying to quiet her breathing save someone heard her or caught her.

Suddenly, Scarlet slowed a bit around the sixth staircase, greeting another person in the shadows. He was tall and his presence was quite commanding, and Cassie immediately recognized him as Jackson. Hate boiled in her body for him, but she stood back in the shadows, shrinking against the wall and watching the two wrap their arms around each other and kiss briefly.

"Did you bring the firewhisky?" Scarlet said in a giggly whisper.  
"Yes," said Jackson with a grin. "It's outside. I wouldn't bring it in because of that accursed Squib caretaker."

"Always wanting a party, eh, Jackson?" Scarlet said, letting Jackson wrap his arms around her hips.

"Of course," drawled Jackson. "I hope you'll be more fun tonight than that Beckett girl," he said darkly.

"You'll see just how much fun I can be tonight," Scarlet said slyly, moving even closer yet to Jackson and kissing him.

Suddenly, Cassie heard breathing next to her and looked over to see Sirius Black and James Potter beside her, their wands already out.  
Sirius stepped forward just as Jackson and Scarlet detached themselves from each other, looking quite pleased.

Sirius sneaked forward a bit as they made their way toward the top of the staircase. _I'm going to use the jellylegs jinx instead,_ Sirius mouthed to the other three. _Much funnier. _

Cassie's heart seemed drop in her chest. Sirius could not use the jellylegs jinx. Did he know what could happen if they slipped on the stairs? It was stone staircase, and just a few weeks ago a first year had been taken to the hospital wing for slipping down it. But Sirius seemed to have given no thought to his actions, and with a flick of his wand, opened his mouth to utter the incantation.

Without thinking, Cassie darted forward as the words left Sirius' mouth. "No, Sirius!" she exclaimed, her small hand closing over his wand hand.

Jackson whirled around and his sharp eyes fixed on the two. He dodged the spell deftly, but Scarlet was not so quick. The jet of light hit her squarely in the legs, and she let out a cry of panic as her knees buckled beneath her, sending her plummeting down the flight of stairs. There was one final, terrible crash, then silence.

Jackson made no move to go after Scarlet and help her, but only smirked at Cassie, his eyes moving past her to Sirius. "Looks like you just sealed the deal to your expulsion from this school, Black," he said, his eyes gleaming his triumphant malice.

Sirius' hand fell to his side, and he turned to look at Cassie. Cassie could not meet his eyes, so she dashed down the staircase after Scarlet, finding the blonde girl lying unconscious at the foot of the stairs.

Suddenly the light of a wand lit up the corridor and McGonagall, dressed in tartan robes and followed the Head Boy, Robert Green, made her way hastily toward Scarlet. "Miss Beckett," said McGonagall, quite aghast, "what has happened here?"

"There's been an accident, Professor," said Cassie in a panic, noting a large gash in Scarlet's forehead. Blood was pouring from it freely and pooling onto the floor, and one of Scarlet's arms stuck out a strange angle.

McGonagall approached Scarlet and bent down, examining her quickly. Scarlet, thankfully, was breathing steadily enough, but had grown quite pale. At last, McGonagall stood.

"Indeed," she said, quite displeased but much too worried to admonish Cassie at the moment. "Mr. Green, would you please take Miss Edwards to the hospital wing while I sort this out?"

Robert nodded quickly, scooping Scarlet up deftly and heading back upstairs with the girl in his arms, looking concerned but purposeful. As his footsteps died down the corridor, McGonagall glanced up at the top of the staircase where Sirius and James stood solemnly. Jackson had apparently disappeared long ago, a wise move Cassie wished she could have taken.

"What exactly happened tonight, Miss Beckett?" questioned McGonagall. Cassie could tell she was holding in fury by the way her lips tightened into a thin line. Her eyes seemed to bore right through her, making Cassie tremble every so slightly.

"You will answer this question as well, Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, and Miss Everett," McGonagall said, looking up and addressing the three. They shuffled down the stairs, not meeting McGonagall's eyes.

"It was an accident, Professor," spoke up Sirius at last, his hands in his pockets. "Hales and Edwards were sneaking out of the castle, and we followed them, and Edwards slipped." He looked quite terrible telling this lie, but Cassie understood that it was partly a mistake. However, she knew that Sirius should not be lying. She wanted to be able to take responsibility for her part.

"No, Professor, it was not quite an accident," Cassie spoke up after taking a deep breath. She heard Sirius' slight intake of breath beside her, but pushed on. "We followed Jackson and Scarlet here. We were going to catch him breaking out of the castle, but a spell meant for him accidentally hit Scarlet."

"Thank you for being honest, Miss Beckett," replied McGonagall, her mouth still set in a thin line. "Who cast the spell?"

There was a silence for several seconds.

"I did, Professor," said Sirius painfully.

"Very well," said McGonagall. "I presume you are old enough to know that such roughhousing after curfew in the castle is something wizards and witches of your age should not be participating in. What happened tonight should serve as an example of what can happen when such behavior goes wrong. I'll expect you all to serve a detention with me every Friday night at my office, starting at nine o'clock, for a period of time that has not yet been determined by me."  
All four nodded, their heads lowered in guilt.

"Now every one of you, head back to your common rooms."  
They nodded, and McGonagall turned and left, her mouth still drawn tightly as she disappeared down the corridor.

Sirius Black brushed past Cassie roughly, heading with James back to his common room. None of them spoke to each other, and when Cassie and Emily left for their common room, Sirius would not even look at Cassie. She could tell by the dark look in his gray eyes that he was furious with her. She knew she had done the right thing, but she was too angry with Sirius to be consoled.

Emily disappeared through the entranceway, and James started up the staircase towards the Gryffindor tower. Before Sirius could follow after him, Cassie could not control how furious she was at Sirius. He had changed the plans entirely, coming up with a dangerous new spell that he had apparently given no thought to the consequences.

"I cannot believe you, Sirius Black," said Cassie in a low voice after Sirius' retreating form, "you aren't even sorry for what you did to that girl. She'll be in the hospital wing for days!" Cassie felt hot tears of rage spring to her eyes as she ran after Sirius down the empty corridor, her shoes making a clacking noise on the stone floor of the castle.

"You and your sodding morals!" said Sirius dangerously, not turning back, not caring how loud he was being at midnight. "We got caught because of you."

"And rightly so," Cassie replied tartly, surprised at her own boldness. She had barely summoned up the strength to speak more than several sentences to Sirius, but her anger seemed to give her a new strength and courageousness. "You deserve every detention have gotten. It was a stupid prank!"

"A stupid prank you have no problems helping out with," snapped Sirius poisonously, still moving quickly away from Cassie, making her run to catch up with him, "until, of course, it went wrong. Now you start up and how wrong we were for doing something like this! And of course you had to tell McGonagall what had happened, like a first year prat!"

"You're no different from anyone in Slytherin!" shot Cassie. "That's where you should have been sorted. You're cruel and unremorseful to the very end, even when someone gets seriously hurt."

Sirius froze in his tracks, and Cassie could tell she had crossed an invisible line. He turned around to face her slowly, his gray eyes lacking their sparkled and boring through her dangerously. She stopped abruptly, her mouth closing in a combination of embarrassment and fear.

"What did you say?" he hissed, his eyes melting through her.  
She shrank back against the wall, thoroughly alarmed at the new side of Sirius that was being revealed.

"I'm sorry," she apologized instantly, but it seemed to be too late for Sirius.

He advanced even more upon her until he was looking her right in the face. She could almost feel the flame of anger that was burning in his eyes. His gray eyes that were so full of life now were cold and hateful.  
"I'm nothing like them," he said furiously. "Nothing at all, and don't you forget that. You may think all I do is think about the next fun prank I'm going to play, or the next girl I'm going to snog, but that's not true. I live life everyday trying to be different from the Slytherins, different from my cousins. I would never hurt someone for the sake of hurting them. What happened with Scarlet was an accident, and you know it."

For a few moments, the two stared at each other, unable to break the strength of the gaze.

"I know you're not," said Cassie at last, her voice very tiny and quiet. "Even when you were nasty to me sometimes, you never actually hurt me like the Slytherins."

Sirius' face fell just a bit, something like guilt flickering through his eyes. "Was I so very mean to you?" he asked unsurely.

"Only a bit," whispered Cassie. She could not help but notice how close she was to Sirius, and it was making her feel warm all over, her knees suddenly feeling unable to hold up the rest of her body. Sirius' warm gray eyes were focused upon her, his soft black hair falling about the sides of his face. She could still hear his breathing, heavy from his former fury.

Their lips were close, too close. There were inched between them. Cassie's breathing sped up a bit. Suddenly Sirius bent a bit closer to her, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Oi, mate!" came the voice of James. Sirius and Cassie hastily pulled away from each other, Cassie suddenly becoming quite interested in the hem of her sleeve. "You coming?"

"Yeah," said Sirius. "Sorry." He looked back at Cassie, his gaze scrutinizing and curious. He wondered how had things had changed so much with Cassie. The girl he found so interesting to tease had now entranced his very soul, and without barely saying any words. Then he turned around and headed up the staircase after James, deciding to figure things out the next day.

As he disappeared, Cassie clasped a hand to her chest, feeling her heart beat wildly in her chest. She had fallen for Sirius Black at last. Now only time would tell what would happen between the two of them.


End file.
